An 8-year-old girl receives gifts from the crows she feeds

[Bayard]

Eight-year-old Gabi Mann has been feeding crows in her family's Seattle backyard garden for about four years now. It started as an accident:
Gabi's relationship with the neighbourhood crows began accidentally in 2011. She was four years old, and prone to dropping food. She'd get out of the car, and a chicken nugget would tumble off her lap. A crow would rush in to recover it. Soon, the crows were watching for her, hoping for another bite.
As she got older, she rewarded their attention, by sharing her packed lunch on the way to the bus stop. Her brother joined in. Soon, crows were lining up in the afternoon to greet Gabi's bus, hoping for another feeding session.

A couple of years later, Gabi and her sister began setting out food for the crows on a daily basis. It was after this ritual began that gifts started to appear.
The crows would clear the feeder of peanuts, and leave shiny trinkets on the empty tray; an earring, a hinge, a polished rock. There wasn't a pattern. Gifts showed up sporadically - anything shiny and small enough to fit in a crow's mouth.
One time it was a tiny piece of metal with the word "best" printed on it. "I don't know if they still have the part that says 'friend'," Gabi laughs, amused by the thought of a crow wearing a matching necklace.

No doubt, Gabi's collection is quite impressive. She considers them her treasures, and she meticulously stores, labels, and categorizes each object in a bead storage container. One bag contains a broken light bulb with the caption, "Black table by feeder. 2:30 p.m. 09 Nov 2014." Other objects include paperclips, buttons, earrings, and worn glass. One trinket, a screw, is marked as "third favorite," because as Gabi puts it, "You don't see a crow carrying around a screw that much. Unless it's trying to build its house."


Some of the gifts Gabi has gotten over the years
There has been ample research done over the past few decades that show that birds, specifically crows, are considerably more intelligent than first thought.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2015/03/03/1368072/-An-8-year-old-girl-receives-gifts-from-the-crows-she-feeds?detail=emaildkcc

Short story, no more at link.
Very cool.....

[pecosbob]

1. I read a study done at some Ivy League, Harvard I think

about crow communities identifying humans that harrassed them and spreading the info around their group.

[donkeypoofed]

4. I believe that was due to a professor wearing a scary mask one year

And harasses them. A few years later and those birds remembered him! I found that so fascinating! And as a lover of animals, I was also embarrassed to not realizing how smart animals are - I hadn't been giving them near enough credit.

In fact - one day a neighborhood squirrel had been taking my neighbor 's tomatoes. I caught him in the act one afternoon and told him if he'd wait 2 mins, I would go in my house and bring him some food instead (the tomatoes left were small and green), so I went inside and got the squirrel some nuts and crackers and when I went back outside, he was there patiently waiting for me. I left them on a corner of the stoop and he happily took them, but not before stopping, turning around, and chattered what I believe to be a quick "thank you". I never saw him again but i was amazed. That squirrell understood me.

I talk to my cat all the time, and the first time i did he looked surprised! Like, "you know I can understand you?!?!". I've been talking to him since. Eg. When he wants food, sometimes he has to wait a few minutes if I'm busy. I'll say "gimme 15 mins and come back and I'll feed you, let you out.or whatever it is he wants. Every single time that cat is back and on time!

[pecosbob]

14. That's the one

[Duppers]

24. Squirrels, at least some, are amazingly smart.

Except when crossing in front of cars but we can't judge all of them by those unfortunate accidents.

When I've time, I'll tell my pet wild squirrel story - he was the proverbial "something else."

[cwydro]

25. The ones who make those impossible wild dashes in front of cars -

My dad used to call them teenage squirrels. Lol.

[donkeypoofed]

28. I look forward to it !

[Arkansas Granny]

5. I've seen a couple of documentaries on PBS about crows.

Their intelligence is really amazing.

[grantcart]

17. I believe it was called "A murder of Crows" on Nature

Amazing documentary with a stunning example of an elaborate funeral ceremony.

[AllaN01Bear]

23. found it . here it is .

&app=desktop

[Arkansas Granny]

27. Yes, that's the one. I was amazed at how quickly they figured out how to retrieveve

the treats in the puzzle boxes.

[GoCubsGo]

9. It was at the University of Washington.

Makes you wonder if some of the same birds might be involved. They're pretty amazing animals. I constantly see them harassing red-tail hawks here.

[pecosbob]

13. Thanks for the save

[democratisphere]

2. Crows and many other birds and animals are much smarter than

many humans give them credit for. (Some birds and animals are much smarter than many humans). Great story. Thanks!

[Hugin]

3. Wow! Only the best for Gabi.

Those Crows have good taste.

[FM123]

6. I just love this story.

[Historic NY]

7. Oh they watch......

I've told this before we were not allowed to smoke indoors, way before the ban. There was one of those big metal ash tray setup outside the back entrance way. The Ash-tray was used for all sorts of things, people would deposit food items , coffee cups, basically anything they didn't bring inside for proper disposal. The custodians were constantly emptying the mess which would end up on the ground. The crows would line up in the trees opposite the door, and watch. Employees were constantly chastised for making a mess outside. On one fine morning I exit from one of the other rear exits in another portion of the building and watched the crows picking through the discards in the ash tray, they would toss the butts onto the ground to find their choice morsels. I told the boss's to stop blaming the employees and to look at the camera footage. To kill two bird with one stone they got a lidded garbage can and the ash tray was move to the perimeter of the parking lot.

They never brought us anything except they would make a ruckus.

[irisblue]

10. I wonder if she'll go to college to study ornithology?

[smirkymonkey]

8. What a great story!

This is so cool!

[Shanti Mama]

11. 2 of my many crow stories

I lived in Asia for many years. The crows in my city were amazing and sometimes really awful. Mostly amazing.

We had a tree that needed to come down, but there was a big crow's nest in it. Didn't want to hurt eggs/babies so a guy climbed up to remove the nest. The crows dive bombed him, never quite touching but scaring him. The nest was made entirely of metal -- wire, paper clips, other objects. Really interesting. We set it low in a tree and they took it!

I was at a pool and took off a pair of much loved earrings that I'd bought for myself as a special treat. Big yellow gold hoops with indigenous decoration. I tucked them under my hat, but some glint must have showed. When I came back from my swim one had disappeared and the crows was squabbling. I was really, REALLY upset but glad that at least it went to a good purpose. That was one valuable nest!

[Vinca]

12. What a cute story. We've also been feeding crows, but all they leave is droppings on the cars.

[panader0]

15. No crows around here in SE Az, but we have lots of ravens.

Crows can get 18" tall, and ravens over two feet.
My buddy rescued a very young raven, who lived in his house for almost a year
before flying off. He would sit on your shoulder and peck lightly at your head.
He returned often to the backyard to visit.
I love birds. Fill up the feeder outside our living room window and watch with glee.

[iluvtennis]

16. Aww, so cute. I love it. Thanks for the post. nt

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

18. Crows are awesome...

One day while hiking along a familiar trail next to a river my wife and I heard some noise that sounded like a heavy rain or hail coming down. The crows were cawing loudly and incessantly, they sounded pissed, if you understand crow. We don’t, so wondering what was going on we looked up to see if anything was bothering the birds. Hawks are common around there so we thought they were chasing them away. Not so.
We approached a little clearing by the river where other hikers had gathered, we started talking about and watching the crows. The spot we were at is a known area where Michigan Rattlesnakes (Eastern Massasauga) live.
In the clearing close to the water a young crow was hopping around it looked hurt in some way. It could fly for about 5 feet land hop and around. All of a sudden the noise returned everyone was watching the crows. What was that noise?
We noticed the crows split themselves into two groups one on one side of the river, one on the other. They were picking up stones or little pebbles and dropping them like bombs around the area the youngster was. Dropping through the trees it sounded like rain.
One group flew, the other gathered stones. First one then the other. This went on for about 10 minutes. Then a group of the crows landed close to the young one, one flew up with a snake in its beak, went up about 50 feet and dropped the snake. That action finished it off.

I have never before or since been with a group people that were more astonished.

[Duppers]

22. Wow! They organized a successful attack...

To protect one of their young. Most impressive. ❤ Crows.

[IncaRoads]

19. The same ravens always follow me

At a certain place in Death Valley.

[MicaelS]

20. Google "Crow asks for help".

There are several videos on Youtube.

[Duppers]

21. ❤ Crows. That's a touching story.

Both crows and ravens deserve respect--they so intelligent and have a sense of morality and appreciation, as Gabi has witnessed. And like elephants, they have a sense of mortality and grieve lost friends.

The entire Corvidae family is renowned for being the smartest of all birds and some of the smartest of all animals."
https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/crow-brains-reveal-secrets-their-intelligence/

Thanks for posting this uplifting story.

[cwydro]

26. Mineral Man posted a great story about crows some time ago.

Terrible at searches, but it’s a good story if anyone wants to find it.

[Red Mountain]

29. I'd like to start feeding the crows.....

and I really need to get up some nesting gourds for the purple martins. And i need to build a structure or two for the chimney swifts.

Enjoy them all.

[Raine]

30. BEAUTIFUL...

THANKS for posting such a wonderful story!