Rain Gryphon

So back on the 12th of March, I took a walk around mom's property to deal with fallen sticks and limbs (to the brushpile with them!), and to generally check for damage, as there'd been serious winds the previous few days. Sticks everywhere, of course, and debris (I recovered one of her basement window covers from way out in the neighbor's corn field), but I also found the wreckage of the woodpeckers' home from the big maple:



Sad, but much better to have it happen in the early spring than later on when it's full of babies.


I also found, of all things, a starling's egg:



There's dried mucous on the surface, and it rained the night before, so I'm guessing it was laid that morning. It was only about 25 feet from the cake feeder too, so couldn't have laid out too long without one of the woodpeckers finding and eating it. Starlings, in particular, are known to sometimes lay an egg on the ground if the nest isn't ready, and I'm guessing that's what happened here. I'm wondering if the high winds interfered with completing the nest, so it wasn't ready when expected.

I wonder too what the hen's emotions were at having to abandon her egg that way? I know that domestic chickens suffer real stress if they have to lay an egg in the "wrong" place. Sad event all around, although a fascinating thing to find. It massed only 6.0g. The baby would have weighed less than that, even, since that includes the shell. And in only about two weeks after hatching, it would have grown into a young bird, able to fly. That continues to amaze me.

Given that she was starting to lay on the 12th, I think it's reasonable to expect babies by middle of next week, at the latest. I haven't a clue where her nest is, though.