Stuart Dahlquist is a Seattle homeowner and enthusiastic bird watcher who spent years leaving out food for a family of crows that live in his backyard. What he never expected was that the birds would give him anything in return. But one day, the corvids surprised him with a shocking gift.
Birds Out of the Nest
Five years ago, Dahlquist found out that two crow chicks had fallen from their nest in his front yard. Dahlquist shared that he had always enjoyed listening to the chirp that baby birds do when their parents feed them, and when he went outside and stumbled upon the tiny crows, sitting helplessly on the ground, he knew he had to help.
Ignoring the squawks of alarm the adults were making, Dahlquist scooped up the chicks and placed them back in the nest. He then left out water and food near the base of the tree in case the chicks fell a second time.
A New Tradition
From that day forward, he began throwing bird food in his yard on a regular basis, and apparently, the crows took notice of his kindness. One day, when Dahlquist was getting ready to perform the daily feeding ritual, he was surprised by fir sprigs that the crows had decorated with soda can tabs. In addition, it was left at the exact same spot where he would feed the crows.
He noticed it straight away because it looked like trash, but the pull tab that was threaded onto the sprig of fir was not normal, so he hung on to it. The next day, Dahlquist was offered a second branch decorated with soda can tabs, apparently courtesy of the crows. This left him stunned because he realized that he had made a major discovery.
The Internet Took Part
On social media, he remarked that this was generous, creative, and could even be considered art. Jennifer Campbell-Smith, a behavioral ecologist who got her Ph.D. studying crows, said that although she is skeptical of Internet sources, crows are very intelligent birds, and this is not out of the question or shocking.
Dahlquist says he will maintain a close relationship with the bird family in the future.