Cooing Crow

On a neighborhood walk I was hearing the soft coos of what reminded me of a cuckoo, but I could never track it down.  A few days later I heard it once again. Because a cuckoo would be highly unlikely in this area, I figured it might be a dove, but then again it just did not sound like a Mourning Dove.

As luck would have it I had a third chance, and this time I was able to locate it. It was a lone American Crow making a soft cooing. No other crow was around and we did see it later with a small twig in its mouth.  Was this courtship, or trying to attract or bond with a mate?

While we are so accustomed to the scolding and raucous caws of crows,  we may not relaize that they have a large repetroire of calls, including bill clacking, rattling and cooing.