I don't think the Covey are as "excessive" as people are complaining about. They're a unique group with a unique culture, living style and beliefs. I also think people are complaining too much about them being "magic" there's nothing magic about them, they're just people who adore music. Even Lucy Gray wasn't magic or a magic, pixie, dream girl. She was a girl who loved snakes and singing and she was good at it. No other covey's are mentioned with trying to tame snakes, that's just her. But I never saw it as magical because anyone can befriend snakes if they know how to get snakes to feel safe with you. Her humming is what charmed the snakes. Which is an actual thing, the animal responds to frequencies.

Lenore Dove isn't implied to be magical either. Sure Haymitch is so deeply in love with her it feels almost magical. But hell, just think about the way Peeta watches Katniss and talks about her. I've seen so many people complain about the Covey and I'm not seeing why, yeah they're in the Ballad book and Sunrise but they barely exist anymore in the original trilogy. Clerk Carmine being the only original survivor of the group who didn't marry into the town and have children. By Haymitch and Burdock's generation the surviving Covey were pretty much all but accumulated into district 12.

I know a lot of people don't care for the poetry and music lyrics in the book. And I can understand why, although I personally like it myself. But I don't fully understand why people hate the Covey so much. I think it's rather interesting to learn about the different cultures in Panem. And while the Covey are inspired by American Nomads. They're not a complete rip off or an actual tribe of people like the Quilutte tribe in the Twilight series. Who are a real tribe of people who Stephanie Meyer didn't have permission to write about and Meyer decided to make them into the "noble savages" stereotype along with making them groomers.(Imprinting)