If you leave them treats, they may return the favor with "gifts". I recently discovered that some birds such as Corvids (Jays, Ravens and Crows) will bring you things they find as it would seem as "thank you" for the food you give them. Since moving into my new property I have seen many Crows, maybe we can attract them to feed on peanuts. We found a good corner of the grassy field line where it may be good for them to feed on them. Wanted them them to have them own space where we would not disturb them by being close.
Found an old cooking tray that was quite old and we were not using much anymore. I drilled a few holes in it for drainage and it was ready for being a feeder.
https://www.birdsoutsidemywindow.org/2019/02/15/gifts-from-crows/
A news story about Crows gifting humans things for the food we leave out.
A past my weather station, on the grassy line where the lawn ends is where I dug up some ground and placed a pole in the ground.
Thought about using concrete, but I dug it pretty deep and then placed the pole in the ground. From there I tamped it down really good. The pole felt sturdy, I can always redo it if need be.
With the pole in place I got to finding screws, and collected the peanuts for the feeder.
I used raw peanuts with no salt, tried one out and spit out back out.. Well hope they are not as picky, maybe I can find something better to feed the Crows.
With one screw in I get ready to drive more in, but make sure the post is where I want it.
Looks level and the screw is pretty far to the left side, so driving another to right should be good.
Not sure what kind of screws they are exactly, just some wood screws with the star head.
I did not predrill, just drove the screw in hard and the soft metal gave way.
Oops! I went through the side of the wood. Felt the drill speed up and knew something was wrong.
Well I tried keeping the pattern clean but I missed my mark and had to drive in a few extras, hope the birds do not judge me too bad.. lol
Looks about done, will need to observe the birds landing on it and see if I need to add some structural support.
Cracked open about half of them, not sure if the Crows like to break them open or can.. I would assume they can.
With the feeder all set up I walk away and give nature time to notice it and feel safe around the new structure.
Crows hanged out in the area but did not visit the feeder yet as far as I know.
It took about 36 hours or so and some Blue Jays found them. I learned those are part of the same family as Crows and they are even known to have the same "gifting" behavior. Nice!
My camera lens does not zoom in very far and if I got any closer they would fly away but good to see Blue Jays using it.
Even though we wanted Crows to visit it, having a bird from the same family visit them is good enough. And hopefully the Jays will leave gifts just like crows do. Even says they do in Wikipedia.
Blue jays, like other corvids, are highly curious and are considered intelligent birds. Young individuals playfully snatch brightly coloured or reflective objects, such as bottle caps or pieces of aluminum foil, and carry them around until they lose interest.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_jay#Behavior
Sometimes I see groups of Blue Jays flying around together, this group is hanging out in a near by tree.
The next morning we walk back down to the feeder and add more peanuts, we crack them open so they have an easier time getting to them. We try to go outside every day at the same time to help build a pattern that they will pick up on.
With another tray full we walk away and let the Blue Jays feed on them, hopefully we will get Crows up there too but for now its just a different Corvid.