My first gifts.

In an effort to get the crows more accustomed to my presence (and to get some great footage), I decided to sit in the backyard with my camera after putting food out.

They got close but were still very hesitant to actually fly down while I was outside. For almost two full hours he sat in the tree looking at me, and I sat in my Ozark Trail™ camp chair looking at him.

Finally to alleviate the pressure on him - and on my bladder, I went inside. Him and several others did end up coming down a couple hours later. I resigned myself to waiting a bit longer for the epic perch-on-my-shoulder moment.

The next morning, I noticed a couple things sitting on the patio right in front of my Ozark Trail™ camp chair that definitely weren't there the day before - a single crow feather and a paperclip. My first gifts! In order to reward this behavior and hopefully encourage more - I put out a hard-boiled egg. He checked it out but never actually ate it.

The next morning the egg was still there, but I had another present in front of my Ozark Trail™ camp chair. A single red strand of trimmer line. We don't have a trimmer yet and we know it's not from a neighbor because of its placement. That brings my gift total up to 3!

Now I just have to figure out how to train them to bring me $100 bills...