Eight-year-old Gabi Mann lives in Seattle Washington. Check out all the stuff she got from her friends, The Crows.   Not some humans named Crow, but some real birds.

 

Gabi has been feeding the crows in her garden since she was four, first it was an accident. You know how kids are always dropping food, a chicken nugget here, a Cheetoh there. Soon, the crows were watching for her, hoping for another bite.

 

The BBC reports as Gabi got older, she would share her packed lunch with the crows on the way to the bus stop. Soon, crows were lining up in the afternoon to greet Gabi's bus when she returned from school, hoping for more food

 

Lisa and Gabi
Lisa and Gabi
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In 2013, Gabi and her mom, Lisa got more regimented about feeding the crows.  Each morning, they fill the backyard birdbath with fresh water and cover bird-feeder platforms with peanuts. Gabi throws handfuls of dog food into the grass while the crows watch and cackle from the telephone lines. When Gabi leaves, the crows swoop in and start feeding.

 

 

It was after they adopted this routine that gifts started appearing.  The crows would eat all the peanuts, and leave behind shiny trinkets on the empty tray, an earring, a hinge, a polished rock, anything shiny and small enough to fit in a crow's mouth.

Gabby keeps it all and catalogs everything. There are rows of small objects in clear plastic bags. One label reads: "Black table by feeder. 2:30 p.m. 09 Nov 2014." Inside is a broken light bulb. Another bag contains small pieces of brown glass worn smooth by the sea.  There's a miniature silver ball, a black button, a blue paper clip, a yellow bead, a faded black piece of foam, a blue Lego piece, and the list goes on.

Gabi says a pearl colored heart is her most-prized present. "It's showing me how much they love me."

 

They love her mom too. According to the BBC report,  Lisa, Gabi's mom, regularly photographs the crows and charts their behavior and interactions. A few weeks ago, she lost a lens cap in a nearby alley.

Later she found the cap sitting on the edge of the birdbath. Lisa logged on to her computer and pulled up their bird-cam. There she saw a crow bringing the lens cap back.  "You can see it bringing it into the yard. Walks it to the birdbath and actually spends time rinsing it off".

Lest you think this is all man made fantasy,  John Marzluff, professor of wildlife science at the University of Washington, who specializes in  crows and ravens says gift giving crows exist.  He says the birds can form a bond with humans and they do bring gifts. Of course you don't always get shiny things, sometimes they bring dead birds and rats. Those have to be the thug life crows.

 

 

 

 

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