First observations of water provisioning to wild altricial nestlings: pied crow (Corvus albus) parents resolve a sticky situation in The Gambia

Abstract Nestlings of altricial birds are not typically provisioned water. For the first time in a wild altricial bird we provide annotated video documentation of adult pied crows ( Corvus albus ) gathering water with their bills and provisioning it to their nestlings in a similar manner as food is delivered. The circumstances of this provisioning suggest that the function is to dislodge anthropogenic food (mainly boiled rice, which has a sticky consistency) from the parent’s bill, flush it into the mouth of the nestling, and facilitate swallowing. The means by which the adults gather the water without swallowing and transport it is also unusual. Water provisioning by pied crows is a previously undescribed example of corvid ingenuity, likely in an effort to handle novel food in a human-altered environment.