They'd still be better than cheap drones at remote pick-pocketing - if you could train them to spot and snatch coins and bills.
I was wondering about the opposite too. Could you train a crow to watch you throw a marker, say a pebble of specific color, and then fly to the location it landed to perform specific action? Say, if we go for personal mischief instead of warfare:
- red marker = find whatever interesting object there is (e.g. man-made things it can carry, or money), and fetch it;
- blue marker = grab a payload from you and deposit it at location (e.g. a piece of paper, a "stinky bomb")
- orange marker = hover over location for a while, or explore it (useful with e.g. crow-mounted camera; throw marker over a fence or on a roof, get footage of place you can't get to)
- violet marker = make noise, scare away meanest looking people or animals near target (say, to chase away partying college students that decided to occupy the nearby children playground before sundown, or to remind the neighbor blasting his car radio at 5:30 in the morning that there exists small children, or decency, or noise rules) (both totally random hypothetical scenarios, yes); alternatively, to patrol the area for a while and make noise if people show up;
- rose marker = find nearest switch or lever, flick it;
Etc.
Of course the crow would need to be trained to fetch the marker back after executing the action, as to prevent accidental repeat actions, make markers reusable, and ensure there's no evidence left behind :).