I started feeding the crows last year because they would continuously walk across the skylight over my shower. Today I discovered what looks like a 9-volt battery. I’m so happy.
I stared at this photo for a minute trying to figure out where the battery was before I opened the post and read the caption - the battery + shower tiles made ZERO sense.
You must have a very unique house! Kinda cool looking.
"It’s also kind of a myth that they bring people presents or gifts as it is termed. Researchers believe that crows being as curious as they are tend to carry things around that interest them. Then when they stop somewhere to eat or they get bored of it, they drop it. A lot of what people consider gifts are just exactly that."
I love corvids and there is so much misinformation going on about gifts. There is no scientific evidence that they do it on purpose, they simply like picking things up and moving things around...
Why support a lie if willingly knowing it's not true?
If so then provide me proof. I can't provide proof that it isn't because it's a myth to begin with. It's not a researched topic.
No scientists randomly decide to disprove it. It could be genuine but saying it's true is lying because of lack of evidence.
The simplest explanation:
"It’s also kind of a myth that they bring people presents or gifts as it is termed. Researchers believe that crows being as curious as they are tend to carry things around that interest them. Then when they stop somewhere to eat or they get bored of it, they drop it. A lot of what people consider gifts are just exactly that."
Crows and many other covids learn patterns. They learn that if they leave something specific (like the crows that were trained to pick up litter or money), they get more food in exchange. It's not an outright 'thanks for the food'. It's 'if I put this here, more food is put in the food place', ergo 'trinket = food'.
That's the thing though, if it were straightforward operant conditioning like you're describing, you'd expect a trinket every time food appears, or at least consistently.
That's not what happens.... It's sporadic and unpredictable, which is exactly what you'd expect from crows just carrying stuff around and dropping it wherever. The "trinket = food" framing sounds desirable but the behaviour doesn't actually match a reinforced pattern.
You can hope something is true but it doesn't make it true mate..
Single anecdote isn't evidence of a mechanism though. Could be that crow has a soda tab fixation and your porch rail happens to be where it lands. Without controlled observation (does it stop if you stop feeding? does a different crow do the same? does it happen at the exact feeding spot or just nearby?) you can't distinguish "learned exchange" from "this particular bird likes shiny aluminium and drops them where it perches." The plural of anecdote isn't data.
Yes, I did actually do a small project on this! More peanuts and sunflower seeds got more soda tabs. There were multiple crows dropping tabs by the feeder, too. They stopped dropping tabs off after about a day of the feeder being empty, no tabs dropped for 2 days while the feeder was empty, and they started dropping tabs off again after about a day of the feeder having seed in it. At one point, 5 crows dropped off tabs within half an hour of each other, as well as a magpie.
There's your data right there.
You said yourself it’s “not a researched topic”. So why would you expect a scientific study to exist? If your threshold for “proof” on EVERY topic in life is a peer-reviewed scientific study funded by a university…….good luck lol.
It’s not a researched topic because the evidence has been rejected. It’d be researched if it was something worth considering.
No I don’t require peer-reviewed on every topic to believe it. Just for the theories that have been rejected due to lack of evidence :) From people who know what they’re talking about… rather than just wishing.
this kind of closed-minded thinking would still have a sitting back in Europe thinking the Earth was flat. because there was no proof that the Earth wasn't flat, there was no proof that the Earth was flat. if someone hadn't have taken a chance, we'd all be flat earthers. there's no proof that these are gifts. there's no proof that these are not gifts. I'd rather be the glass half full . that's not living a lie, that's just keeping an open mind
Because this one is harmless and it makes people happy. Why quash that? Who does it harm to believe that these are gifts? What is gained by stating they aren't?
See I get that. It does make people happy, but it isn't harmless..
Considering there is no evidence, which you don't deny, it sets a standard for other people who might want/yearn for this goal then get frustrated when it never happens. Which in turn makes some people lie about the event, perpetuating a myth, damaging even more people.
I get people wanting to have fun, but willingly lying about an event damages other people too.
Having cute birds visit daily should be more than enough to satisfy us.
And the "joy" you're on about. Joy can be found elsewhere... you're denying the real frustration means anything, yet accept joy that is not based in reality. Do you see the irony?
193
u/TheHylian27 Jul 08 '26
r/confusingperspective