Bird Egg Identification: Learn How to Identify Bird Eggs

There are as many bird eggs as there are birds. Learning bird egg identification methods will help you identify what kind of bird egg you are looking at.

Bird egg identification is an essential birding skill. You will want to tell what bird laid the egg in your backyard birdhouse, right? For that, you need to learn some essentials of bird egg identification techniques, which we are going to discuss, in detail, within this narrative. So, let’s learn to identify bird eggs with ease!

Bird Egg Identification: What Skill is Involved?

There are many methods birders use to identify bird eggs. The most popular method is simply studying them, one at a time. Keep them in your house for a week until they feel familiar in your hand each time you pick them up.

Another way of identifying bird eggs is by looking at pictures of bird eggs in books or on the Internet. You can even learn about bird nests and how to build birdhouses with taxidermy specimens laying around your yard! But when it comes down to it, there is only really one foolproof method of bird egg identification: hold them.

Once you have a bird egg in your hand, you need to know how to identify its specimen. This means that birders will be looking at the color of bird eggs for clues on what bird laid them.

Why Color of The Egg is Not The Best Method for Identification?

However, bird egg color is not the best way to identify bird eggs because most birds can change their eggshell color depending on what season it is or whether they are laying one or two eggs at a time. For example, some birds’ eggs are cream-colored during mating season and gray when the babies have hatched.

The shape of bird eggs is also important in identifying eggs. The size might vary with each egg but it would stay the same shape throughout the incubation period. Some bird egg shapes include elliptical, spherical, and conical.

Bird Habitat is Important in Bird Egg Identification

In bird egg identification, birders look at the bird’s habitat to help them narrow down what bird laid that egg. For example, a bird that lives near a pond will have feathers that are more water-resistant than a bird found in the desert. As a result, their eggs would also be different from one another depending on where they live and lay their eggs.

Birds with feathers adapted for water resistance tend to lay elliptical eggs while birds without this adaptation usually lay spherical or oval-shaped eggs. In addition to feathers, birders look for plant material in nests as clues of bird egg identification. Straw might indicate an egret nest whereas twigs can tell you which species of woodpecker built it.

Some bird eggshells are very small and birders might not be able to identify them at all. This is where bird egg size can help birders. Some bird eggs are smaller than a quarter while others are larger than baseballs. Note that bird eggs with huge variations in size between each egg are most likely dysfunctional or stressed out.

The Important Role of Baby Birds in Identification

If you want to know how to tell what kind of bird laid an egg, there is no other way around it besides holding the featherless baby bird! Fortunately, this method does not need any extra practice because once you have identified the bird, you also know what bird laid the egg.

There are as many kinds of birds as there are kinds of bird eggs out there. Learning how to identify bird eggs will help birders identify bird eggs with ease.

One way to learn bird egg identification is by studying them, one at a time. Keep them in your house for a week until they feel familiar in your hand each time you pick them up. Another method of bird egg identification is by looking at pictures of bird eggs in books or on the Internet. You can even learn about bird nests and how to build birdhouses with taxidermy specimens laying around your yard!

But when it comes down to it, there is only really one foolproof method of bird egg identification: hold them! Once you have bird egg identification in hand, you need to know how to identify bird eggs. Some bird eggs are smaller than a quarter while others are larger than baseballs. Note that bird eggs with huge variations in size between each egg are most likely dysfunctional or stressed out.

I hope this article helps bird egg identification. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask!