Fantasy book with battle between owls and crows

Question

I have a difficult one here. I am trying to track down a fantasy book for my Dad, but the problem is that his memory is not quite there these days. He remembers really enjoying the book but frustratingly only a few details about it, as follows:

• It seems it was a classic good mustering forces to battle a monstrous evil.
• Near the beginning there was battle between Owls and Crows (or possibly ravens). The owls were the good guys and somewhat outnumbered by the crows.
• The good guys encompassed a number of groups of people/cultures including a small sect of 'ninja'-like warriors.
• He last read it about 30 years ago.
• He described a paperback book binding that could well indicate "Unicorn" as the publisher, i.e. it was mainly black with the front cover encompassing some sort of framed art work with what might have been a unicorn at the top of the frame.

I know this is not much to go on at all (sorry), but if a title could be found, it would certainly make my dad happy.

Answer 1

Maybe The Tales Of Panchatantra - The War of Crows and Owls? I'm most likely wrong due to the description of the front cover and the whole ninja addition. I'm not sure how old this book is or if the book your father read was more of a children's book or so fourth.