Crows exchange trinkets for food

Eight-year-old Gabi Mann sets a bead storage container on the dining room table, and clicks the lid open. This is her most precious collection...

Gabi's relationship with the neighbourhood crows began accidentally in 2011. She was four years old, and prone to dropping food. She'd get out of the car, and a chicken nugget would tumble off her lap. A crow would rush in to recover it. Soon, the crows were watching for her, hoping for another bite.
As she got older, she rewarded their attention, by sharing her packed lunch on the way to the bus stop. Her brother joined in. Soon, crows were lining up in the afternoon to greet Gabi's bus, hoping for another feeding session...

The crows would clear the feeder of peanuts, and leave shiny trinkets on the empty tray; an earring, a hinge, a polished rock. There wasn't a pattern. Gifts showed up sporadically - anything shiny and small enough to fit in a crow's mouth...

Not all crows deliver shiny objects either. Sometimes they give the kind of presents "they would give to their mate", says Marzluff. "Courtship feeding, for example. So some people, their presents are dead baby birds that the crow brings in."  

Unfortunately the family's neighbors are not happy with this relationship:

Less enthused about the 8-year-old’s flock were her East Shelby Street neighbors, who objected to the flying, pooping horde. Two of the neighbors – Matt Ashbach and Christine Yokan – made it official Monday when they sued Gabi’s parents, Lisa and Gary Mann...

In the lawsuit, Johnsen said her clients are owed more than $200,000 for damage caused by the girl’s feathered friends. The Mann family’s neighbors say the birds’ leavings have damaged their homes and properties, and that the feeding draws rats...