I was just beginning my walking tour with Sister Alice, her two visiting brothers from the United States and Sister Mary Lou, when Alice spotted this bird egg on the ground next to the mumbaca palm. I guess what impressed me immediately was the size of the egg. The social flycatchers nest is real close to the palm, but the egg was much too large to have come from their nest. Cleuson told us it was probably a great ani egg, since he had spotted them in the palm over the last few days. I felt comfortable with that explanation, but then I wondered why the egg was on the ground. Somewhere in the back of my old feeble mind, I remember this big black bird having fame for impolitely asking other birds to hatch her eggs. I haven't researched this yet, but if it's true, then it's possible that the owners of the nest may have tossed the ani egg out. And all these blue marks on the egg? Scratches from the act of getting the egg out?
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Egg on the ground
I was just beginning my walking tour with Sister Alice, her two visiting brothers from the United States and Sister Mary Lou, when Alice spotted this bird egg on the ground next to the mumbaca palm. I guess what impressed me immediately was the size of the egg. The social flycatchers nest is real close to the palm, but the egg was much too large to have come from their nest. Cleuson told us it was probably a great ani egg, since he had spotted them in the palm over the last few days. I felt comfortable with that explanation, but then I wondered why the egg was on the ground. Somewhere in the back of my old feeble mind, I remember this big black bird having fame for impolitely asking other birds to hatch her eggs. I haven't researched this yet, but if it's true, then it's possible that the owners of the nest may have tossed the ani egg out. And all these blue marks on the egg? Scratches from the act of getting the egg out?
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5 comments:
Hmm!! An interesting one here Steven. As I was reading what you wrote I got the idea it might be a cuckoo egg but I do not know if you have them there? What does an ani bird look like? It is amazing that it did not break when it fell to the ground, but then the blue color might indicate that it is rotten and so too hard to break.
> saphotographs, I believe that the ani is a distant cousin of the cuckoo bird. We have the groove-billed and the great ani. My camera is good enough for bird photography, but if you search the net, you'll find pixes of them for sure. Cheers.
I checked it out Steven and it has a most unusual beak for a cuckoo, more like those of the seed eating birds. By the way, my name is Joan. :)
> Joan, yes have the very large Roman-like beaks. I'm almost sure they are kin to the cuckoo. Got to get off my duff to check it out.
> Joan, I meant to say that my camera isn't good for bird photography. But some day I'll luck out on a shot.
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