Many of us have happy memories of coloring eggs for Easter and then participating in a competitive hunt. My sister’s family still has a family tradition of intricately decorating eggs which the 40+ year old sons then have a competitive egg hunt in the yard. Eggs have been a part of spring celebration since at least 580 BCE in Persia. In Ukraine, Pysanka eggs historically honored the sun god father of Eoestre’s child until Christianity came to Ukraine. (Source: SCTimes.com). And of course there are Faberge eggs which were made for the Russian emperors Alexander III and Nicholas II as Easter gifts for their wives and mothers.
But those of us in Seabrook Island Birders are also interested in the various types of eggs from our wild feathered friends. Since we keep a distance from occupied nests, most of SIB’s pictures of eggs are from various sources on the web.
Eastern Bluebirds have the pretty blue eggs we can often see as monitoring the Bluebird Trail.
I don’t mind when I occasionally also see Carolina Chickadee eggs in a bluebird box. Their tiny white or cream eggs with reddish-brown speckles would be tough to imitate when decorating your Easter eggs.
Another egg that we commonly see are those of Carolina Wrens who like to nest in planters, mailboxes, grills or any other convenient cavity.
House Finch also will lay their eggs in wreaths on our doors, planters or other places we may not want them to be but then it is fun to watch the parents raise their young. This picture on the web shows another egg….Cowbirds lay their eggs in someone else’s nest and lets the host species raise their young. The Cowbird eggs are white to grayish-white with brown or gray spots or streaks. . The House Finch egg is pale blue, with black and lavender dots mostly at larger end.
Although they don’t nest on Seabrook Island, I remember seeing American Robin eggs. “Robin Egg Blue” is a color I possibly could imitate while coloring Easter eggs. The most recent American Robin nest I saw was when a different sister had an American Robin build a nest atop the wood fence post at the corner of her yard.
Of course we can’t forget our shorebirds. From a safe distance, Ed Konrad was able to capture this picture of a Wilson’s Plover nest…just a scraping in the sand. This egg is easily disguised in the sand.
Another egg we unfortunately saw last summer on the beach was that of a Brown Pelican. The king tides came at the wrong time and washed eggs from Deveaux onto our beach. Turtle Patrol walkers knew those were not turtle eggs and Felicia Sanders confirmed these white eggs larger than a chicken egg were likely Brown Pelican.
I’m sure there are many other eggs you’ve seen in your yard or on the beach but it’s time for me to divert my attention to all that egg salad or deviled eggs I enjoyed after remembering my lack of artistic skills as a child.
Submitted by: Judy Morr