The Egg And I!
    How on earth did that bluish green, speckled with brown, egg get into the bird bath? Also solve the riddle of brilliantly white egg shells found beneath the bird feeder. Where were the baby birds?
    Ah, sweet mystery of life and all that unfolds in Mother nature when birds are the subject.

    Where did that egg fall from, or did it? The truth of the matter is that most of the egg shells seen in some of the more unsuspected places were put there with a purpose in mind. That little rascal, the bird of your choice, has its own unique method of coloring each egg and disposing of them after each baby is born. There are reasons for the disappearance of eggs and shells from a nest before and after a baby is hatched. After a little concentrated study on some of Florida's birds—some startling information emerged on what happens to eggs.

    The Blue jay that eats insects, nuts, and wild plant seeds manifests a disposition during the spring (like out of horror stories). It tries to fragment the neighboring bird population by flying onto their nests after eggs have been laid, and plunging their bill into the soft shells. They proceed to tear the undeveloped baby apart, eat it or suck the yolk from the shell if the baby hasn't formed yet. It has all of the appearance of thinning out a society of living things.

Other egg predators are: Crows, Blackbirds, gulls, and Egrets-to name a few.
    A bird's egg is individualized by the parent during the process of laying the egg through inherent characteristics of their genes. Egg coloring is from pigments produced by the glands in the female oviduct. The colors are squeezed out as the egg moves down the oviduct. The motion of the egg produces the color patterns. If the egg remains still, spots will appear on the egg. If the egg moves in different directions while the glands continue secreting, lines and scrawls will result in the coloring of the egg. In most instances the different colors add to the concealment of the eggs as they lay in the nest before hatching.

    The secret is revealed as to the whereabouts of eggs after hatching and those having been vandalized. Birds have an aversion to empty eggshells. When discovered in their nest, the shells are picked up with the bill, flown from the nest, and dropped as far away from the nest as they can go. Grebes thrust their eggshells under the water releasing them as far from the nest as possible. If you must know, a grebe is a diving and swimming bird with broadly lobed webbed feet.

    Adult hawks usually eat the shells. Black-headed gulls fly away with the shell within a couple of hours after their chick hatches. Sometimes, its done within minutes. Never-the-less it's done to keep their chicks in the nest less conspicuous to the egg predators.