Expert: Julia Booth - 3/24/2008

Question
QUESTION: I live in Keene, Texas, south of Fort Worth.  This afternoon I went out to check the level on the propane tank to see if it needed filling.  I haven't checked it for probably 3 months.  When I pulled up the cover that goes over the gauge, a bunch of sticks, feathers (fluffy white and not so fluffy gray), and two eggs (very tiny, probably not more than half an inch tall, light with pinkish brown spots on them).  Of course, the eggs are broken (they must have been fairly new, because they appeared to have just white and yolk in them), the nest is broken, and we feel bad, but we were wondering if you could help us identify the species that was nesting there.  There were a lot of sticks in the nest, it seemed strange to have such tiny eggs in what seemed like such a large nest.  I have pictures of the eggs and feathers if you'd like, but you may be able to identify just from the description thus far.

ANSWER: Do you live near any bodies of water, man made or otherwise?

Yes, please send the picture of the nest/eggs and possibly the tank as well.

Julia

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Not much water locally - sometimes a small manmade pond, but not much.

Answer
Okay, that is one tiny egg. The reason I wanted to see is because typically birds that lay such small eggs tend to be cavity nesters or build what we call cup nests -meaning that they are literally shaped like a cup.

Given the size and coloring of the egg and your geographical location, I'm going to say (with about 75% certainty) that it belongs to a Carolina Chickadee.