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.

[MHGinTN]

A raccoon mama began coming to my back deck for meals. I have handles instead of knobs on my doors. She would pull the handle down and pop it to let me know when she was out there for her meal. She brought the little kits around when they started following her. By that time I had tied an empty chocolate can to a string and slipped it over the handle inside, to act as a doorbell. One of her sons, Buster, has learned the trick. And although the rest of the family only visits ocassionally now, Buster comes regularly and ‘rings the bell’ for his handout. When he was little, I would feed him oatmeal cookies from my hand while sitting in the dar out back. He would literally climb into my lap for his treats, to get special treatment from his siblings. He doesn’t climb in my lap anymore -—gotten too big for that— but he does sit next to me on the deck and reach over to touch my leg when he wants another bit of cookie. He has recently taken to doing something odd ... when I talk to him he sits very still, like he’s figuring it out. If I hear a funny voice at my window some night, I will not be surprised to open the curtain and see Buster calling me out.

[Terry L Smith]

dear flycatcher,

I had first seen them around, thinking they were ‘weird-sounding’ mourning doves.

When I started getting my birding books and field glasses, I figured out that they were the white-tipped variety, to my surprise.

South Texas, as the book indicates ... Central Louisiana, somethiing new!

Now, from one who knows that the mourning doves are listed as ‘game’, in certain areas, please explain ‘specialty’.

[Flycatcher]

Lol. By "specialty," I meant that the white-tipped dove is a specialty of South Texas. When birders visit South Texas, it's a bird that they would be specifically after, as it's only found there in the USA.

Now if you detected one in central Louisiana, that would be considered an excellent find. If you reported it on the local Louisiana state bird listserv, I guarantee you that you'd have hundreds of birders come check it out. It's most certainly NOT a specialty of central Louisiana, so it would be quite a sensational sighting.

Let me know how it goes. All the best!

[Terry L Smith]

dear flycatcher,

here is something to ‘twist your tail’, hahaha.

the doves have made themselves a local fixture. yes, dove_S!

I have to do the twist out my front door, to not spook them to flight, were i to attempt to identify their noses in the lenses of my binocs. The movements and gestures are very similar to an alpha ‘rock dove’, with hens afoot, and there are a few younger birds, too. They don’t fly far, when spooked, just like ‘rock doves’. The town i live in has been designated a bird sanctuary, and i would feel a little awkward if a bunch of folks started meandering through the living complex.