child?

It could very well be crows. They are quite amazing birds with distinct and rather unbirdlike personalities IMO, and can be somewhat mischievious to the point of being malicious. I've seen them lop off the tops of other small plants before for no apparent reason, as well as steal various small objects from the garden. Rather like magpies in that regard!

Some corvids are thought to be too smart for their niches. Ravens have been seen lying on their backs and rolling rocks around on their stomachs.

I think it must be the crows.... they are always bouncing around the lawn in that area..... maybe it is a form of crow basketball! They are certainly smart.... like magpies. I have a picture of a magpie sitting on the head of my horse, quite happily, in the Okanagan!

Rabbits come and eat the flowers off my pansies but the flowers are definitely gone, with a neat cut left on the stalk. If the flowers are being left just lying there, not eaten, then probably crows or kids.

I think it's either squirrels, bunnies, or crows. Sorry I'm not more help, but I just wanted to say that it happens to me, too, only with tulips. Really irks me. I once tried putting copper tape in rings around my herb seedlings. The crows would wait for me to walk away, pull them off, play with them a bit, and leave. They definitely like shiny stuff - maybe the like color, too.