The girl who gets gifts from birds

[FLPanhandle]

http://m.bbc.com/news/magazine-31604026



Lots of people love the birds in their garden, but it's rare for that affection to be reciprocated. One young girl in Seattle is luckier than most. She feeds the crows in her garden - and they bring her gifts in return.
Eight-year-old Gabi Mann sets a bead storage container on the dining room table, and clicks the lid open. This is her most precious collection.

"You may take a few close looks," she says, "but don't touch." It's a warning she's most likely practiced on her younger brother. She laughs after saying it though. She is happy for the audience.
Inside the box 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. "Beer coloured glass," as Gabi describes it.

Each item is individually wrapped and categorised. Gabi pulls a black zip out of a labelled bag and holds it up. "We keep it in as good condition as we can," she says, before explaining this object is one of her favourites.

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. Many of them are scuffed and dirty. It is an odd assortment of objects for a little girl to treasure, but to Gabi these things are more valuable than gold.





Crows, Ravens, in fact the entire Corvidae family of birds fascinates me. Such intelligence.

[Taitertots]

1. Train them to bring back change from the neighborhood

Deposit cans if she lived in Michigan.

[FLPanhandle]

3. That would be cool.

I just think it's amazing the ravens, on their own, have either figured this was a quid pro quo arrangement or feel obligated to return the favor.

Either way it demonstrates an amazing amount of intelligence.

[HereSince1628]

2. Interesting, in my family there is a tradition, either Sorbian or Wendian

from the old Lusatia region of east Germany

It comes in various forms...

a sheath of wheat should be hung for birds at harvest...

or

food is set out for birds at Solstice/Christmas eve...

In both stories, the birds gratefully return bringing gifts (Easter eggs) in spring.

[Pooka Fey]

4. Great story. I love birds.

[Arugula Latte]

5. Oh, suuure. Real sweet. She's raising up her own Army of Crow Minions to do her evil bidding ...

No, really. Great story! Love the lens cap thing.

[TwilightGardener]

6. Neat story. I have a family of ravens nearby. Sometimes they drink from my

little garden water fountain out back, but I haven't found a way to draw them in regularly, although they do like the roadkill rabbit carcasses that unfortunately regularly appear on the roads by my house.

[Oilwellian]

7. Crows are extremely smart

I saw this story on Facebook and just loved it. The lens cap story was amazing.

Here's my favorite crow video of all time.

Crowboarding

[Pooka Fey]

17. Aww! So amazing! Thanks for posting this!

[postulater]

8. Our local Audubon Society has a crow they bring to the Farmer's Market.

It sits on a perch and waits for people to give it a dollar bill. Then it stuffs the bill into a collection box.

It is great for donations. Kids love to watch the crow stuff the money away and the Audubon Society makes a bunch of money each time they bring out the bird.

[fasttense]

9. I love the crows

We have a huge organic garden and farm. The crows never seem to bother it. They don't even bother our corn.

They always warn us when hawks are around our chickens by squawking and dive bombing the hawks .

[Oubaas]

10. I Feed the Crows...

...and the other birds, and over the years I've learned a couple of things.

First off, if you feed crows, you'll be getting up fairly early. I'm retired and should be sleeping late, but the crows somehow know which room is my bedroom. If I sleep too late, they wake me up.

Also, you'll never be stealthy again. The crows will joyously announce the sighting of their pal the moment that you walk out the door.

They're smart. The gardens of all my neighbors get marauded, but mine is never touched. People keep asking me why the crows don't bother my vegetable garden and I tell them, but they don't seem to believe that I've befriended the birds or that the crows would selectively leave my garden alone.

Our small horse ranch has become something of a safe haven. Lots of wild critters hang around here and seem to know that we won't hurt them.

The latest cause for consternation is Hector, the skunk. People see him in the yard and freak out. But I can walk right up to him and he's not bothered. He's been around about a year now and wanders around my chair mumbling while I sit outside. My daughter's school bus driver is horrified, LOL!

Then there's Tank, the armadillo, The Singing Coyote Brothers, lots of friendly deer, all sorts of stuff.

I think they can sense your vibe. We respect the critters as just different sorts of folks. And maybe being permanently and totally disabled in the line of duty in the military changed me at some level and the animals know it.

Here's a good book for my fellow crow lovers:

[link:http://www.amazon.com/Gifts-Crow-Perception-Emotion-Thought/dp/1439198748/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1425148939&sr=1-1&keywords=the+gifts+of+the+crow|

[RobertEarl]

11. You are the kind of neighbor I wished I had

I won't tell you what kind I do have.

But after a few talks with one of mine, they did claim that wildlife did have a right to be 'round about. Progress!

Welcome to DU.

[narnian60]

12. Oubas,

you rock!

[FLPanhandle]

13. Welcome to DU

Sounds like a great place you've got.

[Hekate]

16. Now that's a wonderful life. Welcome to DU.

[Tom Ripley]

14. I love this story

[hootinholler]

15. Fuck with a crow and they will fuck your shit up

They don't forget either.