Okay, so maybe you've never wondered

what to call a group of animals, but I have. My college daughter and I got talking about this on the phone yesterday and she found a great resource. And since we have a difficult time hanging up from a phone conversation, we got reading the list and laughing.

Some examples for you:

A gulp of cormorants.
A murder of crows.
Ducks in the water are called a raft.
A convocation of eagles.
A stand of flamingos.
For hawks: A cast, a kettle (if flying), a boil (two or more spiraling in flight).
An exultation of larks.
A parliament of owls (remember Narnia?)
An ostentation of peacocks.
A congregation of plovers.
An unkindness of ravens.
A murmuration of starlings.

A tower of giraffes.
A bloat of Hippopatamuses
A barrel of Monkeys (I kid you not)

And my personal favorite:
An intrustion of cockroaches.

From the website:

If you are interested in derivation of some of these names, or if you just want some fun reading, check out James Lipton's book entitled "An Exaltation of Larks". Birders interested in avian nomenclature should see Bruce Campbell and Elizabeth Lack's "A Dictionary of Birds".