For the past 3-4 years we have had a robin's nest in a small crabapple tree that I walk past every day on the way to the mailbox. This year I was surprised one morning to find on the sidewalk a perfectly-formed and fully intact baby blue robin's egg. The oddness of the situation lay in the fact that this location was not underneath or even near the nest; it was a good 20-30 feet up the sidewalk. How did it get to this location?
A few days later when I looked at the nest, I saw not a robin looking back at me, but rather a female cardinal:
Did she evict the egg from the nest? I can't believe that beak fashioned for cracking seeds could grasp an intact egg. Some days later I held my cell phone over her empty nest to see what was in it...
I can't identify unfledged baby birds, but suspect that is a young cardinal, since the mother continued to visit that nest. Meanwhile, the robin (or at least a robin) is now nesting over the security light by the garage door.
And the egg on the sidewalk remains a mystery. Could it have been laid on the sidewalk in desperation because the nest had been taken by a cardinal? It sat there for 4-5 days and then disappeared as mysteriously as it had arrived. I'd be glad to hear informed opinions.
I was told that a robber bird took it and wast scared away before eating it. I found a chicken leg on the roof and figured it was the same story.
ReplyDeleteThe robins egg was probably evicted, or stolen and dropped in flight by the thief. The egg on the sidewalk disappeared because someone came by and ate it - bird or animal.
ReplyDeleteIf I had to guess, I'd guess a cowbird visited the robin's nest before the cardinal took over. I had that happen a few years ago with a nest that was made in a decoration in front of my front door, cowbirds will kick an egg out and lay one of their own.
ReplyDeleteI understand about cowbirds and cuckoos, but I don't think an egg can be kicked out of a nest 5 feet in the air and wind up intact on a concrete sidewalk. Maybe... if it was slowed in its fall by vegetation, then chipmunks rolled it up the sidewalk 20-30 feet. Lots of maybes.
Delete> Lots of maybes.
DeleteToo many to even start responding with the funny and ridiculous! :-)