FW: The seasonal raven problem again

[Martin Butterfield <>]

Geoffrey: the phones the young folk have these days can be carried up trees!  Don't even need a long cable to connect 'em!

Martin Butterfield

http://franmart.blogspot.com.au/

On Thu, 23 Aug 2018 at 17:47, Geoffrey Dabb <> wrote:

But, Martin. who would hold the phones while they were climbing the trees?

 

From: Martin Butterfield <>
Sent: Thursday, 23 August 2018 4:38 PM
To: Geoffrey Dabb <>
Cc: COG List <>
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] FW: The seasonal raven problem again

 

In a country with a more stable Government (I have People's Democratic Republic of Laos in mind) there would be a team of young people climbing the trees to retrieve balls and return them to the elderly sportsmen.  For a small consideration.

Martin Butterfield

http://franmart.blogspot.com.au/

 

On 23 August 2018 at 16:20, Geoffrey Dabb <> wrote:

Raven havoc at Duntroon Golf Course this morning.  Approaching the first green, the cry went up from the group following us:   ‘the crows have already taken one ball’.  The centre of the pillaging was the short second.  I had my ball taken from the green  By the time they got to that green that following group had ‘lost 4 balls’.  The group after that had lost 2 balls by the same point.  That would make 7 balls in about 10 minutes.  Probably many more balls were taken in the course  of the morning.

 

Some points –

 

All balls were white.

There were 2 raven pairs in the area with some excited squabbling.  More than one ball-snatcher involved.

Balls were being carried consistently to same group of trees.

Balls would be picked up with yelling golfers within 25m.

Some chasing of ball-carrying ravens by Noisy Miners.

 

Below shows the corner of the golf course in question.  Red outlines the at-risk zone, and stars show main ball-snatching area.

Pink arrow indicates trees that are probable location of raven nest/large ball cache.