Crows are one of the few creatures to be visually unaffected by radiation. Secretly, this is because all crows in the Commonwealth are actually synths created by the Institute for their Watcher Initiative, used to spy on developments in the outside world. Certain factions in the Commonwealth are aware that the Institute has synth crows, but do not seem to know that all the crows are synths.[Non-game 1][1][2]
Characteristics[]
Biology[]
Crows have distinctive black feathers and have three frontal talons on their feet. Synth crows appear to have red eyes instead of the greyish eyes of non-synths. Crows cannot be disintegrated with energy weapons.
Gameplay attributes[]
Crows do not register at all on the compass and cannot be targeted in V.A.T.S. Like radgulls, crows do not always fly away from the player character when approached. When killed they explode in a manner similar to those affected by the Bloody Mess perk, regardless of whether it is active.
Locations[]
Crows spawn randomly and can sometimes be found in large groups.
There is an unused red-eyed crow model which was originally intended to be used for the synth Watchers. According to Mark Teare, they would have been invulnerable to all damage. It was removed after it became clear that all crows were in fact Watchers, negating the need for an alternate model.[Non-game 1]
Bugs[]
PCPlaystation 4Xbox One Crows cannot be killed by melee attacks, including gun bashes, even if on land.[verified]
↑Ronnie Shaw: "We've seen a lot of those Institute crow-things sniffing around. Looks like they're getting ready to try to take us out." (Ronnie Shaw's dialogue)
↑ 2.02.1Deacon: "You see those little raven bastards - they could be Watchers. Reporting everything back to the mother ship.So, the Institute wasn't content with just creating synth people. Oh no, they have synth birds, too.Or wherever the Institute's hiding. So smile for the pretty birdies." (Deacon's dialogue)
Non-game
↑ 1.01.1"Fallout 4: Crows" on Mark Teare's Tumblr: "At one point I was thinking the spy crows were hiding in the packs of real crows so I made one red eyed and impossible to kill. In the end the idea was that all crows were watchers so we didn’t need to have a second type."