A couple of days ago we spotted a far off Long-billed Curlew in flight with something in its bill. It was much too distant for decent photos but I was curious about what it was carrying so I scoped it with my 500mm. Even at that great distance it was obvious that the bird was carrying an egg. I actually fired off a couple of frames but the curlew was so far away that I just deleted those images when I got home. I wish I hadn’t now…
I’ve seen and photographed birds carrying egg fragments from the nest after the hatching of their chicks multiple times but this seemed a little strange because it looked like an entire egg rather than just a fragment (which I didn’t think at all likely or even possible). Another thing that strikes me as unusual is the fact that this bird was several hundred feet in the air and flew a significant distance with the egg even though BNA Online says that when curlews dispose of eggshells they fly only “several meters” from the nest before alighting to drop the shell.
We watched the bird fly and then eventually land on a gravel road where we were able to find the abandoned egg. Here you see it undisturbed as we found it. Now I’m no curlew expert but I’m going to speculate that this egg didn’t “hatch”. It doesn’t look like it has been pipped from the inside by the egg tooth of the chick and besides the hole in the egg simply has to be too small for the chick to have emerged through it. In addition, some of the broken fragments held in place by the shell membrane seem to be “caved in” rather than “caved out” as you might expect to happen with the emergence of a chick.
Based on that it’s my suspicion that the contents of this egg were eaten by a predator in the nest and that the parent curlew instinctively removed it for sanitary purposes. If so it reminds me once again of just how precarious successful reproduction often is in the wild.
I was somewhat surprised by the large size of the egg so I asked Mia to hold it while I took a couple of photos to give a sense of scale. I was also struck by the shape of the hole in the egg. I immediately saw the outline of a bird with its back to me and looking away. Perhaps I’ve spent too much time with Rorschach inkblots…
Ron
Either both of us have seen too many Rorschach patterns or we’re both perfectly sane… I see the same shape you do. 🙂
It’s quite obvious that a small dog emerged from that egg…judging from the shape, it was either a Pomeranian,. Papillion, or long-haired Chihuahua.. Once again, I learned something new from you…Until now, I didn’t even know dogs came from eggs…birds and Easter rabbits, yes–dogs, no…..
Good Morning! Thank you as always for wonderful pictures and a great story.
Hmm, I’m getting a small Pomeranian or scotty dog… Wow, that’s a big egg! Beautifully marked too. I’ve seen Ferruginous Hawks dispose of unwanted nest items by flying them to a “dump”- generally the same area about 200-300 meters away, but have never witnessed a whole egg being carried.
Mike, now that you mention it I can see a small dog in the shape of the hole also.
Ouch indeed. Fascinating behaviour though. Thank you.
Ron, that is one big egg. I’ve never seen a curlew egg before, so I can’t judge.
Bob, I was impressed by the size of that egg too. And typically the female lays four of them. Makes my sphincters pucker just thinking of it…
But I’m quite sure it’s a curlew egg, based on the photos of them I’ve researched.