Perhaps the most Seattle thing I’ve done, in a year I’ve spent more time in Seattle than LA, is attempt to make First Contact with the Capitol Hill murder.

Seattle has an unusually high density of urban crows — the suburb of Bothell has a particularly huge co-roosting population, but they’re out in force across the greater metro area — and human residents are quite fond of them. Crows recognize and remember humans who treat them well (or badly!), and urban crows have a lower baseline fear of bipedal apes that makes them particularly amenable to friendly overtures. University of Washington biologist Carl Bergstrom has gone as far as to recommend befriending crows, and suggests starting with an offering of shelled unsalted peanuts.