Welcome to my website and birdwatching blog! This first post is more of an introduction than a post about my birding adventures. I’m currently in the process of building the website as I write this post, so I thank you for putting up with all of the extra construction.
The photograph used on my pages (including the introduction to the blog page) was taken last spring (May 2022). I found the egg in a bush nearby a dust bathing spot popular with a quarrel of sparrows. Until last spring, I had no idea that sparrows enjoyed dust bathing so much. In fact, little divots were located all around the bush!
One interesting fact about light blue eggs like this is that people tend to assume right away that they are robin eggs. In fact, many different bird species lay colorful eggs like this one. While I’m not completely sure what type of bird this shell belonged to, I do have my suspicions that it might have belonged to a starling. European starlings, an invasive bird in the United States, happen to be rather aggressive when it comes to nesting, and last spring, the sparrows had been in constant competition with a group of starlings. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that one of the many starlings had decided to make a sparrow nest their own before laying this colorful egg!
Nicolette Harpford 