Nuptial gifts

[Wild-Woman]

Just seen a crow in next doors fir tree pass something to another crow. Is this part of their normal pairing ritual? I've never seen it before.

[Dogghound]

It does occur in carrion crows particularly around breeding and egg laying. Was one of the birds (begging) like a young bird and flapping its wings? this is usually a good indication of courtship feeding. Their is also a lot of bonding prior to the breeding season, either pair formation or just as likely an existing pair strengthening bonds.

[Wild-Woman]

There's been a lot of activity in the tree, lots of noise and crawing loudly. The carrion crow carrying the object (assume it was food and the male doing this) was circling the tree, touching down and then passed it to the other (presume female) and then flew to a nearby roof and started the crawing again. It was almost like a tease, then triumphant noise-making. Quite interesting to watch. Wish I could have seen what the object was that was passed, it looked rounded possibly like a nut.