Lots of folks love birds in their garden, but do the birds love them back? Gabi Mann, 8, of Seattle, WA, knows some who do. When she was four, she had a tendency to drop food on the ground. Getting out of the car, a chicken nugget might fall from her lap. A crow would rush to eat it, and then hope for another bite. By first grade, she began rewarding the crows' attention by sharing food from her school lunchbox, and in 2013, Gabi and her mother Lisa began feeding crows each day. Gabi would cover the bird feeder with peanuts. The crows would eat the nuts, and leave shiny trinkets on the empty tray. Just a coincidence? Research indicates crows and people can form very intimate relationships. They understand each other's signals.
On day Gabi found a tiny piece of metal with the word BEST carved on it. She does not know if the crow is wearing a matching necklace that says FRIEND, but her Mom would not be surprised. One day Lisa was out photographing a bald eagle as it circled the neighborhood when she dropped her lens cap and could not find it. Before long, it turned up as a trinket on the birdbath! Did the crows return it? To find out, she checked the crow cam on her computer. There was the crow she suspected. "You can see it bringing it into the yard; walks it to the bird bath, and actually spends time rinsing the lens cap," she said. It's nice to have friends in high places.
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