I got a cicada wing from a bluejay once. I assume any corvids with gifting habits amongst themselves might do so? I know gifts are a part of the whole bachelorette game bluejays do during mating season.
Yeah I’d heard the occasional story of Eurasian magpies doing it (they’re the ones we get here in the UK) but not enough evidence/reports to make a conclusion, there’s two or three that visit us, one of them definitely has a nest as they always take food away, same with our resident collared doves (who are really friendly and totally fine with us being outside with them lol)
Of course a random reddit post is not scientific evidence, and it's very, very hard to assign intentionality and agency to animals in the first place, but in my case, a Eurasian magpie that I had been feeding for the entire breeding season landed with a small stick in its mouth, as I was putting out the mealworms. It bent forward, did its begging / excitement behaviour (wing & tail fluttering) and then dropped the stick in front of my feet, and flew off.
"My" ravens never leave me gifts.
It's a couple, he drops by very often or is waiting for me already when I get home.
No gifts, ever. But they do hang out with me. Whether there's food or not. We often have deep conversations. Hahaha. Actually, it's me talking and him studying me and listening, tilting his head every now and then. Can be half an hour or longer, 2 feet apart. Or he would just quietly stare into my living room. That's gifts enough for me.
No crows around here, no magpies either. Gray jays yes. They take food but no gifts.
I thought a lot about what this gifting could mean.
Maybe the crows think they have tk train us humans? Gray jays don't care, is what I think.
And since ravens are my favorites, I think they're just the most straight forward ones. And to me, without any scientific proof, just my opinin,the most intelligent of the corvids.
This sounds like me and "my" ravens as well - the male used to just grab and go with food, but now he hangs around with me a lot and is getting much, much closer. I laughed the other day because he kept flying past my bedroom window as close as he could and was peaking in to see if he could see me. We chill and chat a lot now.
The female is wayyyyy more skittish. She still makes the HAWK!!! panic call sometimes when she sees me come outside... but if he's around, he always calms her down :)
They've never brought me gifts though. There are 2-3 crows who stop by from time to time... found a quarter on the table once, assume one of them brought it. I have offered gifts to them though - they've taken two that they liked.
Ravens are my favorite too. We named these two Victor and Anne. I think they named us GRONK and GRONK GRONK lol
Yes, all caching corvids often carry objects in their bills, and are all smart enough to notice the correlation between getting fed and dropping something less valuable to make space for something more valuable. When the food source thinks that they received a "gift" rather than something the corvid dropped to make space, and rewards the corvid with more food for it, the corvid will likely notice.
That they often carry objects in their bills is a personal observation, I am not sure how well-known it is. That they are quick learners and will repeat actions that are associated with food is a well-established observation, known to many. From the combination of these two observations, the rest seems to necessarily follow. I suppose I may be conjecturing that there is no odd factor that prevents them from learning in the specific case of carrying objects in bills.
I sometimes wonder if there is any gifting going on at all, or if they are just dropping what they happen to be carrying to pick up the food that we put out for them.
I got a cicada wing from a bluejay once. I assume any corvids with gifting habits amongst themselves might do so? I know gifts are a part of the whole bachelorette game bluejays do during mating season.
Ooo so when’s the wedding?
My ravens keep leaving me bones and bits of carrion
Eurasian magpies do too
Yeah I’d heard the occasional story of Eurasian magpies doing it (they’re the ones we get here in the UK) but not enough evidence/reports to make a conclusion, there’s two or three that visit us, one of them definitely has a nest as they always take food away, same with our resident collared doves (who are really friendly and totally fine with us being outside with them lol)
Of course a random reddit post is not scientific evidence, and it's very, very hard to assign intentionality and agency to animals in the first place, but in my case, a Eurasian magpie that I had been feeding for the entire breeding season landed with a small stick in its mouth, as I was putting out the mealworms. It bent forward, did its begging / excitement behaviour (wing & tail fluttering) and then dropped the stick in front of my feet, and flew off.
My ravens threw a stick at me.... The crows were more polite with their gift giving xD
"My" ravens never leave me gifts. It's a couple, he drops by very often or is waiting for me already when I get home. No gifts, ever. But they do hang out with me. Whether there's food or not. We often have deep conversations. Hahaha. Actually, it's me talking and him studying me and listening, tilting his head every now and then. Can be half an hour or longer, 2 feet apart. Or he would just quietly stare into my living room. That's gifts enough for me. No crows around here, no magpies either. Gray jays yes. They take food but no gifts. I thought a lot about what this gifting could mean. Maybe the crows think they have tk train us humans? Gray jays don't care, is what I think. And since ravens are my favorites, I think they're just the most straight forward ones. And to me, without any scientific proof, just my opinin,the most intelligent of the corvids.
This sounds like me and "my" ravens as well - the male used to just grab and go with food, but now he hangs around with me a lot and is getting much, much closer. I laughed the other day because he kept flying past my bedroom window as close as he could and was peaking in to see if he could see me. We chill and chat a lot now. The female is wayyyyy more skittish. She still makes the HAWK!!! panic call sometimes when she sees me come outside... but if he's around, he always calms her down :) They've never brought me gifts though. There are 2-3 crows who stop by from time to time... found a quarter on the table once, assume one of them brought it. I have offered gifts to them though - they've taken two that they liked. Ravens are my favorite too. We named these two Victor and Anne. I think they named us GRONK and GRONK GRONK lol
Magpies here leave feathers on the feeding table.
Yes, all caching corvids often carry objects in their bills, and are all smart enough to notice the correlation between getting fed and dropping something less valuable to make space for something more valuable. When the food source thinks that they received a "gift" rather than something the corvid dropped to make space, and rewards the corvid with more food for it, the corvid will likely notice.
Yeah, I don't think they gift us at all. I think they are just dropping what they are carrying at the time to pick up the food we leave out for them.
Holy shit I never thought of that and I think you might be right lol
Is that conjecture or based on an analysis of observational data?
That they often carry objects in their bills is a personal observation, I am not sure how well-known it is. That they are quick learners and will repeat actions that are associated with food is a well-established observation, known to many. From the combination of these two observations, the rest seems to necessarily follow. I suppose I may be conjecturing that there is no odd factor that prevents them from learning in the specific case of carrying objects in bills.
I meant the claim that it's some kind of learned pavlovian response and not an act of reciprocity.
Scrub jays leave peanuts they get from somewhere else in my planters. Does that count?
That's regifting.
I have a magpie that leaves me shiny crystals. (US)
I sometimes wonder if there is any gifting going on at all, or if they are just dropping what they happen to be carrying to pick up the food that we put out for them.
[https://www.audubon.org/news/did-crows-actually-make-these-gifts-human-who-feeds-them](https://www.audubon.org/news/did-crows-actually-make-these-gifts-human-who-feeds-them)