The Strangeness of Our Animal Bonds

Last spring, I started boiling two eggs for breakfast every morning--one for me, and one for the crows. A mated pair patrolled the rooftops around my Berlin apartment building; I'd begun luring them to my balcony with peanuts and other snacks. They loved not only eggs but also mealworms, cat food, cashews, chicken hearts, stale bread, cheese, and chunks of lamb fat; they barely touched liver, walnuts, vegetables, and dried fruit. In Germany, we were under a COVID-19 lockdown. But the birds were free.