Back in about 2011 I stayed on Key Biscayne near Miami. I was leaving out the following morning and decided to go to the beach one last time that afternoon. I was the only one on the beach, btw. Having just read an article about seagulls and crows being so intelligent that they were now looking into shoes left on the beach while people were in the water. These birds now know this is where valuables like keys and jewelry are hidden. I figured if I hid my rental car key deep inside my shoe, stuffing my baseball hat into the shoe, on top of it, would be enough. I was wrong.
I went into the water for a few minutes. As I’m walking back to my stuff, I see my hat a few feet away from my shoe and sitting on my beach chair is a big crow with my rental car key in his beak! Panic started to set in. I’m leaving early the next morning and it’s now 5pm. If this bird flies away, he’s taking my key with it. So I decided to yell and wave my arms like a madman as I ran towards it. Hoping that would startle it and it would drop the key. At this point I had nothing to lose. Luckily, it worked! It dropped the key and flew away.
This is video right after it happened. The crow came back a few minutes later.