Have you ever heard of crows who leave gifts for people who feed them? We'll tell you a few stories and ask a few probing questions. Did the crows really leave them? And if so, was it because they felt grateful or did their moms force them to? Maybe they're just buttering us up to keep the gravy train rolling. And how is that different than scrawling thank-you notes to Grandma or handing your teacher a five-dollar Starbucks card with an apple on it? Join Ann and Lisa as they monkey with these and other cool crow puzzles.

Want to follow up on our sources or watch any of the videos we mention? Go to ThisAnimalLIfe.com and click on Show Notes.

Andrews, Candace Gaukel, “Crows are as Intelligent as a Seven-Year-Old Child,” Good Nature Travel, October 2018.

Bittel, Jason, “Think Crow Funerals Are Strange? Wait Until You See the Wake.” Audubon, July 2018.

Bloom, Cameron, and Bradley Trevor Greive, Penguin Bloom: The Odd Little Bird Who Saved a Family, ABC Books, March 2016. "The Coffee-Table Book"

Bloom, Cameron, and Bradley Trevor Greive, Penguin Bloom: how a scruffy magpie saved a family,” The Guardian, October 2016. A cool photostory.

Heinrich, Bernd, Mind of the Raven: Investigations and Adventures with Wolf-Birds, Ecco Press, 2000.

Marzluff, M., John, & Tony Angell, Gifts of the Crow: How Perception, Emotion, and and Thought Allow Smart Birds to Behave Like Humans, Simon and Schuster 2012.

McNiece, Mia, “How a Magpie Helped Save Australian Mom Sam Bloom After a Tragic Acciden--And Inspired a Netflix Movie,” People, January 2021.

Messenger, Stephanie, “Crows Keep Bringing Presents to Woman Who is Kind to Them,” The Dodo, August 2019.

Mock, Jillian, “Did Crows Actually Make These Gifts for the Human Who Feeds Them?” Audubon, May 2019.

Saint John, Kate, “Gifts from Crows” Outside My Window, February 2019.Sewell, Katy “The girl who gets gifts from birds,” BBC News, February 2015.