The girl who gets gifts from birds

BBC ^ | 25 February 2015 Last updated at 17:09 ET | Katy Sewall

[WhiskeyX]

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.

[niteowl77]

Crows do have an amazing ability to figure out certain things. Many years ago, a friend of mine concluded that the local crows began avoiding him whenever he "woods walked" with a rifle or a shotgun, so he switched to a holstered .22 pistol and had some success… at least for a while. Then he switched to carrying the pistol under a jacket, which was also a temporary success. He kept trying different dodges, but eventually came to the conclusion that the crows continually upped their powers of discernment to the point where they recognized him as an individual.

Mr. niteowl77

[niteowl77]

They bully the smaller birds at my feeders and they vacuum up all the food.

We had the same problem, but solved it with different feeder styles. Our remaining difficulty has been the starlings (which go beyond bullying to the outright wanton killing of our wild birds) and the English ("house") sparrows, which are about as bad.

Mr. niteowl77

[Chainmail]

"Can’t do much with insects."

Not true. I once had a pet Praying Mantis - the thing was quite smart and responded well. Used to feed it small bits of bologna.

[fivecatsandadog]

Not that smart. Death by baloney. Not pretty.

[Chainmail]

Birds are cool and a lot smarter than we give them credit. When I was a kid I rescued an injured baby English Sparrow. She stayed with me after she healed up and even rode on the handlebars of my bicycle while I was delivering papers on my paper route. I trained her to fly to whoever I pointed to and then kiss them. I did that to some old Italian priest that was a friend of the family without knowing that Italians are really superstitious about birds. That old guy had a complete panic fit and threw Holy Water all over the place while yelling in Italian until he finally calmed down and realized that it was my pet.

Then I had to put up with the "you are the Saint Francis of Assisi" stuff from him afterward..

[Doctor 2Brains]

Corgis intelligence is, I believe,among the highest in the animal world.

[Chainmail]

Actually that dang thing - a really large green Praying Mantis - lived for quite a long time. It was capable of recognizing me and coming to me only whenever I went into the back yard.

[Hatteras]

[fivecatsandadog]

Cool!

[momtothree]

What a sweet and precious little girl! It is sort of fascinating that she has this relationship with nature. A budding little scientist...

[ProtectOurFreedom]

My wife and daughter went to the Denver zoo a couple mints ago in 5 degree weather. They said it was their best zoo experience ever — critters that normally stay hidden were all out and the zoo was empty, so they essentially had personal zoo tour guides during their entire visit. You’ll love it.

[Hatteras]

I was in Seattle for the first time just recently. I was surprised at the number and how obnoxious and brazen those crows were. I was walking along the shore taking pictures at Lincoln Park in West Seattle and there were a couple of picnic tables. I needed to change out my lens so I walked over to the tables to sit down sort through my camera bag. As I approached, there were three crows on the nearest table and I assumed they would fly off as I got to the table. As I put my bag on the table, one hopped over to the other table and the other two just sat there, cocked their heads and looked at me like I just crossed over to the wrong side of the tracks. LOL! Ohhhh...kay.... I'll just have to find another table, I guess...

Kept turning around to make sure they weren't following me, snapping their fingers to the beat like they were in West Side Story. When you're a Jet, you're a Jet all the way...

[Terry L Smith]

For those of us who put out some bird seed, whether in bird feeders, or on a patch of ground near, but not too near, our abodes, we ‘get gifts’ at times, too, but we might not be aware of it.

If you do leave out bird food, you might find a loose feather, looking like it just fell there. Actually, an old Native thought on this, is the bird(s) means of saying ‘thank you for the food’.

In a morning’s watch, (peeking out the door to where i strew the seed), I have counted a locally nested flock of 36 sparrows, 6 locally nested white tipped doves, a family of 6 blue jays, a pairing of cardinals, and a few juncos of battleship grey variety. All in ‘shifts’, and the doves come through on patrol. And Spring is coming, so how many more once they all hatch?????? i might need more bird seed, huh?

[workerbee]

Around here people would freak out and worry about West Nile virus.

[Flycatcher]

White-tipped doves? Excellent birds!

South Texas specialty!

[Berlin_Freeper]

Glad to know your family had a great zoo day too, ProtectOurFreedom. :)

Saw an elephant crack wood (thick tree branch) with it’s foot and trunk and eat it. Was amazed because I didn’t recall knowing that they ate wood.

[Berlin_Freeper]

I heard the heavy sound of wood crack and I turned around thinking something was breaking loose, as an elephant eating a tree branch. LoL!

[Berlin_Freeper]

tweeted...

Elephant eating tree branch pic.twitter.com/nQrB3X6dqL— 1st Native Americans (@Solutrean) February 27, 2015

[Mr. Jeeves]

Last time we were there I was trapped against a fence by an angry midget pony attacking a baby goat till a large lady quickly ran over and broke them up.

Were their names Valerie, Barack, and Michelle? :)

[Berlin_Freeper]

LoL!

This time I spotted Obama. I told my wife wait, I’m taking Obama’s picture.

tweeted...

Find the Obama pic.twitter.com/Gl0ilE81NG— 1st Native Americans (@Solutrean) February 27, 2015