Expert: Roger Lederer - 7/1/2007

Question
Do you know of a good all bird and bird egg identification website?  We found a nest of 3 eggs, 2 broken and obviously eaten, and one untouched. No bird was seen in the nest area.  Eggs were on ground in mulch between house and shrub; nest was merely the mulch with no arrangement to it.   The area is well visited by all song birds as well of waterfowl from the neighborhood's small lake.  Waterfowl I've seen while visiting this home range from various ducks, geese, and great blue herons.
While I'm no expert at color or measurements, I've noted the following:  color - pale grey w/grey specks of no distinct pattern    size - 2 1/4" length 1 1/2" wide; egg is basic shape and size of a medium to large chicken egg.
I've been searching for a bird egg identification website but am having no luck.
Thank you in advance for any assistance.
Alice

Answer
You can check on www.ornithology.com and go to the identification page for bird id websites but I am not aware of one that will identify eggs readily. So many duck and goose eggs look alike that they really are difficult to distinguish. It's certainly not a songbird egg if it is that size and the nest is made of mulch. Were there any down feathers incorporated into the nest? That would make it a waterfowl nest. If there is a neighborhood lake, there are probably mallards and a lot of mallard-domestic duck hybrids. These are very likely candidates. Great Blue Herons and geese are not likely to nest near a house.