Earthling2 has befriended what appears to be a widowed crow that has been hanging around our suburban house looking forlornly. We can recall the two of them (crows mate for life) frolicking in the neighborhood trees every year for some time and attending a large nest across the street.
We don't know what happened to its mate, but it still hangs around looking quite lonely. I can't tell what gender it is, and if we have to go by size then we no longer have the mate to compare.
But E2 has been setting out a small bowl of water in the garden along with some bread or leftovers from yesterdays meals and her new friend shows up every morning for breakfast, or possibly to gather food for offspring. We hardly ever see him/her eat any, but almost always flies off with it.
Being a widow herself she is sensitive that way.
According to the Wiki, crows are highly intelligent toolmakers and have been known to use bread as bait to lure minnows and small fish to come close. They also have quite a memory and a penchant for revenge if you cross them. And they remember faces.
E2s brother shooed one off his truck with a broom once, and for weeks afterwards found poop on his hood nearly every morning.
They have since made amends.
Anyway, the squirrels have been avoiding the garden and I haven't seen the two rabbits lately so it's turned into a symbiotic relationship of sorts.
I'm going to have to go make friends.
The thread is open.