A pair of Purple Finches built a nest on my deck and I snapped the attached photo with my phone. Sorry for the poor quality of the photo, but I didn’t want to dig out a real camera and bother the expecting parents again. What seemed odd though is that one egg looked so different than the rest. The speckled one looked even larger and more round in person. Did some other bird fly by and think: oh boy, I got to drop this egg NOW! Oh look – a nice nest! Did mamma have a spicy meal the night before laying the egg? Is this a normal variance?
i'm no expert but that looks like the work of a cowbird. i hate those damn things. Cowbird eggs in nestboxes
I am not an ornithologist, however: Do you have cuckoos in your area? Three types of cuckoos lay eggs in other bird's nests. Their eggs hatch first and their chicks push all of the other eggs and chicks out of the nest until only they remain. The adoptive mother doesn't know what's going on and feed the cuckoo's chick as if it were her own. I'd removed the speckled egg if I had a chance. It obviously doen't belong.
I think Galaxee's right, it's a cowbird. Not as destructive as a cuckoo, but I'd still get rid of it. Hopefully the Mom will return to nest on her own eggs and not abandon the nest.
I am not an ornithologist, but my Dad raises exotic birds and hatches quite a few eggs. That is absolutely from another bird. If you enjoy the Purple Finches, get rid of it.
Thanks everyone for the information. It's too late to remove the egg because they've hatched and flown away. In fact, mom and dad have eggs in a new nest about eight feet away from the original and they're just starting to hatch. I'm having a bit of a "duh" moment now. I looked out the window after they'd hatched and one of the babies was out of the nest and I thought it looked big for a finch. It must have been a lot of extra work to feed the extra baby and a bigger one at that. There must be a joke about abusing the welfare system in there... Thanks again everyone!
The big baby will often push the others from the nest. It's really a nasty system they have worked out. Tom
That big baby took over 50% of the food Mom and Dad were bringing back to feed the babies. It's lucky any of the others received enough to live and thrive.
