Have you ever thought you were dumb and then found out later you weren't so dumb?

@cherokeepatti Wow. You just walked over and caught it? Didn't it bite you?

Many years ago, I once saw a crow sitting on a sign (I think) in a nature reserve; I rattled my keys at it or something and made it fly away. After that, it seemed like the nearby crows had a beef with me. They remembered me; I think they did stuff like circle me when I went outside and behave aggressively towards me for days... I can imagine months, maybe a year or some years afterwards.

@Andrew19EightyFive I walked over slowly and reached over and picked a small bunch of wild grapes off the fence, they weren't ripe yet but I figured I had a better chance if I offered the bird something to eat. He cocked his head to one side and looked and then to the other side (reminding me of our German shepherd when he did the same trying to figure out something) and I slowly edged up within reach of the bird. He started eating and I grabbed one leg. He squawked and I got him up my arm, he did bite down on my finger but I held on...carried him to the house and we had some leftover cornbread and fed him, he ate while I held him. We all looked at him a few minutes and I took him back outside and let him go. He didn't fly away. He stayed around for a while and hung out in the blackjack oak trees around the house. Fed him morning and night for months till it got cold and he left. He would be waiting for me to walk outside in the morning when I would go to work, and he'd fly alongside my car down the long driveway to the end of it and then go back to the house. He knew what time I got home and would be watching and waiting and would once more fly alongside the car till I got to the house and I'd feed him again.

@cherokeepatti Intelligent birds. Looks like he figured you weren't meaning him harm and remembered.

My dad told me a story, something like this: he shot a stone or something with a catty in the direction of a bird (not sure what bird it was exactly), not expecting to hit it, but he did and injured it, rendering it unable to fly. So he decided to nurse it back.

He and the bird would go on these exercises where the bird would fly to him or down to him from somewhere, and I think he'd repeat. Eventually the bird was able to fly and it was with him one last time as though it were saying goodbye before flying off. If I'm not mistaken, there was another bird, a female perhaps that he flew over to.

@Andrew19EightyFive I know it's easier to get close to young birds when they get out on their own and are looking for food. There was a blue jay at my aunts that was eating the small round pieces of dog food on the deck. I took the pan and made sure every piece of dog food was off the floor of the deck and the blue jay came down looking for the food and it wasn't there. I'd toss a single piece to the bird and he'd take it and eat it, and I made sure each piece he was closer and closer to me. In a few days days I had that bluejay eating from my hand, never did let me hold it though. I had watermelon one time and he flew down to the picnic table and looked at me like he wanted some. Had to hold it up and squeeze the juice so he would drink it...

@cherokeepatti I can imagine I'd love to do that; like being close to them and hearing their sounds. They make me smile and/or laugh!

I especially like this bird's sounds:

http://www.hbw.com/ibc/video/common-fiscal-lanius-collaris/adult-male-fiscal-shrike-song

Doves and wag-tails also!