An angry mother crow

While sorting through my photographs today, I came across this picture that I took some months back.

A crow had made a nest outside my window, and when I tried to take a picture of its pretty greenish-blue eggs, the crow got really agitated and nearly pecked my eyes out.

No other bird has reacted as adversely to a real or a perceived threat - I've destroyed dozens of pigeon eggs, and the birds have just placidly picked up the remains of the nest and moved elsewhere. Ditoo with a sparrow nest in Delhi - when they found that my son and I were taking an unhealthy interest in the eggs, the bird moved the eggs elsewhere, but they were not willing to go to war with a human to protect their eggs.

Crows, are almost mammal-like in guarding their young. Why then do they get such bad press?

Is it our colour-conscious mentality asserting itself, I wonder.