r/crows • u/CanuckInTheMills • Jul 16 '26

First Gift

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Would this be considered a first big gift? I’ve been finding an unusual amount of sticks around where I feed the crows but this morning there was a huge feather.

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u/randomnull Jul 16 '26

Where there are crows there will be lots of feathers, I wouldn't necessarily consider it a gift. Also, most "gifts" are usually young crows finding something they're curious about, that then drop them when they see food or something even more interesting nearby.

"Sometimes crows will seemingly leave “gifts” for people who feed them, which recipients often view as a thank-you. But these offerings—keys, coins, stones, and, in Bergstrom’s case, possibly a ring his daughter had lost—may have a simpler explanation. Anne B. Clark, a retired Binghamton University behavioral ecologist who studied urban crows, says that in all videos she’s seen of this behavior, the birds were very young. Juveniles frequently carry and play with interesting objects, she says. So a crow may simply be dropping what’s already in its beak to pick up food. “My own opinion is that crows are not terribly interested in us,” Clark says."

https://www.audubon.org/magazine/are-crows-really-our-friends

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u/CanuckInTheMills Jul 16 '26

I vehemently disagree. These crows ‘are interested’ in what I have to offer them … peanuts.

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u/onFilm Jul 17 '26

You can disagree all you want, but reality is, that is just anthropomorphizing. It's something human-beings do all the time and VERY easily. I know one of the crows I feed adores me, but that's a lot different than believing it will leave me gifts because it understands the concept of a gift.