I'll second Deborah's reply - this week I was watching 2 crows foraging on
a lawn near a nest I'm monitoring at St. Edward's. After awhile one of
them (presumably the female) begged for <1 minute and was rewarded by a
feeding. After another 5 min. this behavior was repeated. Then the two
of them flew directly to their nest, and the one who was begging earlier
settled into the nest (presumably on eggs) while the other perched for
awhile at the nest and then flew to a nearby tree.

The audible difference between females begging from their mates and young
begging from their parents is the female begging call (a nasal caw) tends
to be given every 4-6 seconds, while the juveniles' call is a lot more
incessant.

John Withey
Seattle

On Fri, 21 Apr 2000, Jim McCoy wrote:

>
> Q1: Yesterday I watched a crow begging from another, doing the classic
> rapid wing
> flutter that fledgling birds use to do to get food. Though the feeding
> seems like it
> could be courtship, the begging does not seem right. Does this mean that a
> year-old
> bird is still taking food from its parent?
>