Hello, I am monitoring a nest box. On 3/30 I found one egg, it was brown with darker speckles. When I checked it yesterday (7 days later) April 7th, I found 5 eggs. Four eggs were the brown speckled and one was white with brown speckles. The white egg looks about the same size as the brown eggs.
Is a differently colored egg normal? What could be the cause of the white egg?
I'll attach a picture, sorry it is not better, my camera battery when dead (of course) as soon as I took this one pic.
Thanks, Laura
Image:
Hi Laura -
American Kestrel egg color can vary greatly, with the base color ranging from white to yellowish or light reddish-brown, and mottled with violet-magenta, gray, or brown splotches. It is a known phenomenon that the final egg laid can be paler than the others in a clutch, and typical kestrel clutches consist of 4-5 eggs. It therefore seems likely that the lighter egg in the box you're monitoring was the most recently laid egg, and that this clutch will be topping out at the current five eggs.
Thanks for your participation in the American Kestrel Partnership!
Matthew
AKP Staff