Your comment reminded me of another article about crows. It sounds like gifting is a known phenomenon but isn't that well established or researched.

https://www.audubon.org/news/did-crows-actually-make-these-g...

Is there a possibility of human-crow co-evolution? I really can't think of any other reason the crow would give gifts.

According to a book I read, Cheyennes divide birds into three groups: plain, great, and sacred. To my great amusement they count magpies into the sacred ones. They like them because they live close to humans, talk, and announce visitors.

There was a news story about dolphins bringing gifts as well: https://7news.com.au/news/wildlife/dolphins-bring-gifts-from...

Not sure this is required?

If crows are social and they have their own theory of mind it’s not a huge leap to suspect they’d make friends or try and give friends what they think are valuable gifts and that wouldn’t need to be limited to just other crows.

There is an idea about Crow-Wolf co-evolution. Humans could take the Wolf place quite easily IMHO.

The girl who gets gifts from birds: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-31604026