1) Crows actually are not the biggest culprit in killing baby song birds in fact it's more the squirrels and chipmunks that do the most damage.
2) I see them in my neighborhood. I don't know if I could see their nest, but will be keeping my eyes open now. I did watch a group of them chase an owl into a tree. Yelling at it the whole time. It was very interesting!
3) I've seen ravens in the Yellowstone National Park. I didn't at the time know if it was a crow or raven. Looking back now it was defiantly a raven. He was huge and had those beautiful neck feathers.
4) They seem like they can let other animals know there's a predator around. They disperse seeds and clean up road kill Lol.