From the birds - Is it a gift or not?

[Downunderduchess]

I found another golf ball in the backyard today. I do not live anywhere close to a golf course. It has been dropped off by a bird. I wonder if it’s a present for me (I’m on good terms with the locals) or they stole it thinking it was an egg?

I know magpies bring presents - are you cool with magpies?

Not sure if other birds do it though.

Yes! I’m friends with a lot of magpies that live at my place or close by. One even let me help her baby when it got stuck in one of my trees, she sat close and watched over my shoulder the whole time. They are unbothered by me.

fore?

Golf balls are quite big, I can barely fit one in my mouth, and God knows I've tried a number of times in the Clubhouse after a disappointing nine holes, so I would have thought it would be more likely to have been deposited by a fox.

How would a magpie carry a golf ball? In it's beak? In it's claws? They're quite heavy aren't they? Golf balls I mean,not magpies!

Golf balls are big and a little heavy for a bird?

Ooooh a Fox - Thats a good call

Thinking it was an egg

Probably not a fox. I live in Sydney suburbs. I have seen a few golf balls over the years in my garden. It shall remain a mystery for now, although I did see a crow carrying a mouse in its beak years ago, he landed on my fence for a rest, so perhaps it was a crow who dropped it.

Oooh mystery! I'd have night vision, motion detector, action cam thingy set up. Wildlife watch for one.
I bet it's foxes or badgers.
Or an amateur golfer from 3 doors down.

Hello fellow Sydneysider! We used to get random golfballs, its probably crows or currawongs thinking its an egg. My neighbour has certainly seen them with stolen eggs. Magpies here are totally unrelated to the ones in the northern hemisphere and unlikely to be carrying golfballs. We certainly get foxes round here too, you might be surprised where they roam across Sydney.

Ha, now I'm in bed, can't sleep and I can hear a fox in the bushland across the road, what a desolate cry they have. You've set the foxes moving across Sydney, Duchess! Maybe its been visiting the golf course a few kms away and is hunting for lost golf balls.

BTW I am jealous of your magpie friends. Apparently they remember friendly faces. They certainly have a lot of personality.