OOC: Oops, I was waiting for a question to reply that I was free of the plague and it never came. But here's Galan's response.
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Galan also declares that he is free of the plague. "To the best of my knowledge, I am not infected with the magical plague that destroys the Gift. I am here to get away from the plague like all the rest of you." His breath remains normal as he makes this declaration.
After the round of questioning is done, Tacitus declares "Well, we all believe ourselves free of plague. I seem to be free of any disease due that can be detected by Corpus magic, and my humours are showing a reaction to cold weather. I do not appear to be under any magical effects I have not cast myself.
I am willing to check anyone who wishes to be checked - if you are concerned about your health or are worried that someone may have secretly cursed you on your way here, I can help.
Alas, given our limited knowledge of the plague, I have no knowledge of how it would appear to Hermetic investigation."
None of the magi seemed to take serious note of the murder of crows occupying the trees surrounding the prospective covenant site. Shortly after everyone had submitted to Frosty Breath of the Spoken Lie, something spooked them, and they all flew off in multiple directions, no two crows seeming to travel together.
Everyone can do an awareness check.
Thyra awarness _: 1D10+3 = [6]+3 = 9
Very odd as my characters tend to be as alert as a log when JL calls for awareness rolls 
awareness 2 (unless we count as in a forest)v+ roll.coyotecode.net/lookup.php?rollid=174349 roll 3 - total 5.
Tacitus is far too focussed on his Intellego spells to care about crows. He trusts someone else will spot if there's anything unusual.
Awareness check: 1D10+3 = [7]+3 = 10 (11 if it counts as alertness).
Galan is relatively aware of his surroundings as the magi begin to settle into their covenant.
Calpurnia rolls http://www.coyotecode.net/roll/lookup.php?rollid=174507, an 11, 12 if her specialization in Details counts. (Calpurnia has a 2 Perception, 1 Awareness)
Edited for clarity
Calpunria notices that two of the crows fly off together, and seem rather large to be crows.
Calpurnia announces this discovery to the assembled mages. She considers an spontaneous Intellego Vim, and discards it. She could fly up to them, but her strong aura precludes social interactions outside of Hermetic magi.
Agnarr will silently ask Karhu to follow the two crows, as they can talk silently as they are tracked.
"Karhu has agreed to follow the two large ones you mentioned," states Agnarr as the owl near him takes flight.
(A bit late, but Bartholomeus rolls an Awareness of the crows: 1D10 = [8] = 8 + Per 1 + Awareness 3 = 12.)
Unfortunately, the owl is unable to catch up to the birds who fly off together, the owl is generally an ambush predator, capable of quick bursts of speed to catch prey, while these birds are flying off over what seems to be a long distance and steadily gaining on Karhu, and also climbing in altitude. After an hour, he gives up and returns. (I rolled a 6 on his pursuit, in the absence of a roll from you, EF was 18, and the bird stats aren't listed on Agnarr's sheet.)
Bartholomeus realizes that they aren't crows at all, and are in fact ravens.
As the ravens have flown off, unable to be caught, the magi are left to their plots and plans.
OOC
There was a discussion of setting up an Aegis, but it was suggested that they might like to scour the surrounding area to ensure that nothing nasty was left inside the Aegis. We can make that as involved as you'd like, setting it up in another thread, if so desired. Magi can begin setting up their labs, if they aren't going to be involved in the scouring of their... shire. I will continue to use this thread as a communal thread for the first year, but I think we can start breaking into individual stories to run concurrently in real time with this thread, if everyone agrees.
Bartholomeus is quite happy to have recognized the birds and points it out to his sodales, but he is at a loss as to provide any way to investigate the strange behaviour of the birds.
On the subject of the Aegis, however, he expresses the following. "Better to establish it now than later, I think, sodales. For sure, we run a slight risk of including a native creature inside. On the other hand, if we wait then we give other native forces time to move against us before we, our people and our belongings are protected. I think the second is riskier than the first."
"Agreed. Thyra, I believe you mentioned that you have a sixth-magnitude version of Aegis of the Hearth. I can provide vis for half of that. I would like to cast it as soon as possible, then we can start constructing our laboratories."
"The ravens bear watching," Galan says. "They are clever birds and not infrequently used as familiars. It's unlikely, I know. But we should remain vigilant, just in case. And I know some hedge wizards can bond with familiars. Could some up in these parts to do? Angarr, you'd know better than any of the rest of us."
"As for the Aegis," he adds. "I agree that the sooner the better on that. It's not all that large a space that will be covered. We can check it out relatively quickly to make sure no creature is here that shouldn't be here. We'll never know for sure. But then, that's always going to be true. Best to get our defenses up and then start the truly hard work of getting this place up and working."
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OOC: I'm assuming that without the proper Lore skills we wouldn't really know that Hugin and Munin were two raven servants of Odin. Having two ravens look over us right now has me personally thinking Order of Odin.
I can cast a magnitude 4 Aegis now. I have a 6th magnitude version in a lab text in my... she pauses as she thinks of a word. survival gear.
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Thyra is at 39 casting right now without a roll. Re 23 + Vi 8 + AL2 + Ph1 + aura 5
Calpurnia sighs. "I believe that is the best one available. One of us, possibly me, can make it a priority to learn a more powerful version for next year." Calpurnia opens the purse she had, and pulls out four metal rings. They are nothing more than unadorned metal wire. She offers them to Thyra.
"Can we begin? This should be sufficient."
@Trogdor, you are correct about the need for appropriate lore to have enough knowledge for your characters to attempt a roll and to come to any conclusion.
I wasn't sure if Magic Lore or Faerie Lore was appropriate, Hugin and Munin being creatures of the Magic or Faerie Realms (depending on who you ask).
(Bartholomeus has some Magic Lore, though no Faerie Lore. Int 5 + Magic Lore 2 + specialty in creatures 1 + die roll 8 = 16.)