Every day after work, Joni Kamlet walks 3 to 4 miles around her neighborhood in the San Francisco Bay Area. One day in late April, she saw someone up ahead feeding the local crows — and watched one land on his head.
“That was the moment that I decided
that I wanted to give it a try, and I set out to make friends with the crows,” Kamlet told The Dodo.
Kamlet is a registered veterinary technician who has dedicated her life to working with animals, so befriending the neighborhood crows seemed like a natural next step. She started carrying peanuts and cashews with her on her daily walks, and it didn’t take long for the crows to notice.
“I started leaving the peanuts on fences or on top of trash cans so that they could swoop down and pick them up, getting closer and closer to me,” Kamlet said. “I think because the crows knew me already (having seen me walk that same route every day for years), they responded very positively when the daily walking person suddenly started sprouting peanuts.”
Kamlet’s friendship with the crows blossomed quickly and kept getting stronger. She left them treats on her balcony as well, and they brought her gifts too, like painted pieces of ceramics or a shiny quarter.
Finally, two months to the day that she began the journey, the first crow landed on Kamlet’s head.
“Now it happens regularly, almost daily,” Kamlet said. “It is more than one crow. I can tell this by the weight. I will say that there is one main crow that is landing on my head, but definitely more than one. I also think other crows are starting to mimic what the first crow is doing, because sometimes they land awkwardly and fly off, as if they are trying it out.”
There’s a half-mile area of Kamlet’s walk where all of the crow landings seem to occur, and she’s always excited as she reaches that area, ready to see who lands on her head that day. Crows are social creatures, and Kamlet could not be more honored that they accepted her bid for friendship so enthusiastically.
“At this point I have about 30 different crows in the neighborhood that I can identify by their unique behaviors,” Kamlet said. “They truly are characters!”
Kamlet has been posting her adventures with the crows on TikTok, and everyone who’s seen them is so incredibly jealous. For years she’s been taking these same walks, but now that the crows are walking with her, her days are so much sweeter than before.
“I feel incredibly blessed to have this relationship,” Kamlet said. “It’s truly an honor. It feels like a connection to the universal energy we all share.”
