Hi. My name is Aaron and I live in Vancouver, BC, Canada. i have always loved birds, representing them in art, and studying them., I am not a birder, which is to say, I don’t use binoculars or anything similar to watch them. I prefer to respect their personal lives. That said, over the years I have had a number of close encounters with wild birds, and over the following weeks I would like to describe them to you, and perhaps some of you might be able to help me understand some occurrences that I found both wonderful and puzzling. Today, I was followed by a friendly crow. This happens to me from time to time. He flew over my shoulder, very low, from behind, which always seems to mean they want to say hi. Then he perched just overhead. I chatted to him a bit in Spanish (I am bilingual), and he seemed to be paying attention. Then he followed me a bit more, stopping in a couple of other nearby places, then took off. This has been happening for several years with different crows in different places, but almost always in the same neighbourhoods. I did used to feed them often, which worked well as a bribe for them to be nice to me during nesting season. But even where I haven’t fed them, they would sometimes follow me, three at time, for two or three blocks. Always, seeming friendly and curious, though I have to admit that the first couple of times I felt decidedly creeped out. And then there was the crow flying overhead downtown who dropped a scavenged soup bone at my feet. Let me know what you think