You know, there was this little girl who would feed the crows outside of her window. As time went on, more showed up. Eventually, they started bringing her gifts like shiny stones and bits of metal in exchange for her generosity.
The girl who gets gifts from birds
How is that so different from prayer?
Also, there was a study involving pigeons and feeding times- the subject matter was how these birds exhibited superstitious behavior.
The hopper that opened a door to their food was automatic. They found that if the pigeon was flapping it's wings or bobbing it's head at the time of the hopper opening, it would continue it's behavior thinking it influenced the event.
Though not exactly prayer, it isn't so different, either.