A few years ago, Gaby Mann, a four-year-old Seattle resident, ran carelessly around her yard and scattered leftovers of uneaten food without even thinking about what she was doing. The crows that had nested in the surrounding trees now and then picked up pieces of nuggets or fries from the ground. Over time, smart birds began to watch their little virtue toss them such delicious goodies.
Two years later, feeding the birds became part of the daily ritual for Gaby and her mother Lisa. Fresh water in the drinking bowl, peanuts in the trough, pieces of bread in the grass - all this constantly appeared at the disposal of the birds, and they accepted it with gratitude. And this gratitude was not at all conditional, but quite material.
Buttons and buttons, bolts and nuts, metal balls and Lego elements - all this the crows brought for the girl and her mother. Gabi carefully stores all these gifts, organizing them and putting them in plastic bags, which she then puts in special containers.
All these shiny gifts appeared in the feeder after the birds devastated it by eating food. John Marzlaff, birdwatcher and author of Gifts of the Crow, has heard many of these stories from people who have ever dealt with crows and received gifts from them in gratitude. Marzlaff says that crows always pick up bright and shiny objects and drag all this stuff into their nests. So the ornithologist does not exclude the fact that the birds simply forgot their findings in the feeders when they flew away, having had enough.
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