It's certainly a squash/melon (and it certainly has powdery mildew), but it's hard to tell what it is even if we had the immature fruit to look at. Yes, dropping from birds, rodents, and perhaps even deer can be responsible. In fact, reseeding through the digestive systems of animals is very common. In fact, that's exactly why seeds are in things that taste good!

Did you put the kitchen scraps in the garden? I got a lots of volunteers from kitchen scraps too

Yep, my compost pile is the first place I look for squash seedlings.

I have two in my compost right now.

Thanks for writing back :)
I dont have a compost, all the trash is thrown out in Glad trash bags in the front.

It's funny it even grew there, because there is a weed barrier under the mulch, so it had to grow in the mulch and then rooted down through the barrier. It was never watered or paid much attention too...its the weirdest thing to have this pop up...its really cute!

So I did a little research and im sad to see it wont be coming back next spring :(
But now this has me wanting to plant a squash garden next year! Which im sure will fail lol, I dont have a green thumb at all.

I'm guessing it is the deer. About a quarter mile down the road our neighbor has a veggie garden. She just put up deer fencing recently, so one of the deer must have chowed down there and pooped it out in our yard, which by the way is fenced in, they jump right over. They havent been in recently because hubby got a new mower and parked it in the back, they are scared to death of the mower...saved the gourds from being eaten lol

Well, if you're going to plant squash there next year, this is a great time to start composting!

My DH is a pumpkin carver, and the farmer who we work with grows these warty things! They are, however hybrids, so you don't know what you're going to get when you plant the seeds! We planted our septic mound (have since found out we shouldn't do that!) and got all sorts of versions of those squash! Some were pumpkin/like, some PL, but dark green, some ghord/like, some striped! Most had some warts! All different! Just cut open that guy and save the seeds for next year! It's an adventure! I can't wait for the drought to be over to plant these again! They make a great fall table décor!

Also, we had so many from the seeds of one squash/ghord that we ended up putting them out on the road for people to pick up after giving a bunch to the neighbors! Nancy