My fascination for corvus started when I saw Joshua Klein's Ted presentation in 2008[1]. Inspired by these recent findings I two weeks ago decided to get to know some crows. I bike commute every weekday and pass a place were I've noticed there's almost always a flock of hooded crows (corvus cornix).

I decided to feed them twice a day (when going to work and when leaving work). The first time they were very reluctant to pick up the nuts and seeds I threw to them. Me throwing things in their direction understandably made them hesitant. After I left however, I saw from a distance how they inspected the nuts and picked them up.

I did this two times a day for two more days. The day after that I saw a crow sitting on the ground a few hundred meters away. Soon it started flying straight towards me on the bike path. I slowed down and it landed straight in front of my bike and started cawing. I picked up the plastic bag of nuts, and it came right to me.

Fast forward to now. When they are at the place they come to meet me. A few times they have also showed up from nowhere (almost eerily) when I stop with my bike. One second I swear I can't see a bird anywhere, and a second later they land next to me. I've also had a fantastic experience were 10-20 crows flew with me and right next to me (when riding my bike) for a few hundred meters.

It has become a nice part of the day that lightens up my commute. I will keep doing this and see how things evolve. All in all, I would recommend building some interspecies relationships with crows. :)

[1] https://www.ted.com/talks/joshua_klein_on_the_intelligence_o...