The Undiscovered Egg

(Originally posted for Easter 2012) On Easter morning, my baby escaped from his sleeping mother’s grasp, toddled into the hallway and found a basket full of “grass” and a few starter eggs. He then proceeded to instinctively embark on an egg hunt throughout the house. He was a noisy predator and was discovered quickly but we permitted the search to continue.

Eggs in the wild are not meant to be discovered. They are buried, camouflaged or tucked away. They are laid singularly with maximum parental protection or in multitudes with the hope that a percentage will survive. The effort that reptiles, birds, insects, amphibians (and yes the mammalian Platypus) go through to protect their potential offspring is perhaps what makes it so interesting to seek out and discover eggs.

When an egg is found, there are often plenty of clues that suggest who might emerge at the conclusion of incubation (if at all). The cotton candy-colored, spherical eggs in the top left corner are less than ¼ inch in diameter and have been deposited on a blade of cattail in a freshwater marsh. Tiny Florida Apple Snails (Pomacea paludosa) will hatch and descend to the water just several inches below.

Many birds camouflage their eggs with unique colors and markings. As the egg descends and rotates through the oviduct, fixed pigment glands color the shell and create unique works of art on the eggs of the House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) (top right corner).

The five glossy white PurpleMartin (Progne subis) eggs in the bottom left corner would be conspicuous in any hanging bird nest, but in the cavity of a tree or in a bird house, color serves little purpose.

Not every nest is successful. The turtle eggs in the bottom right corner were dug up and eaten. The colorless, ping pong-sized eggs were discovered, most likely by an animal with a good sniffer.

Brown Anoles (Anolis sagrei) will lay one to two eggs in soft soil or under leaf litter. Their eggs range from white to speckled brown.

I can still recall the thrill my sister experienced when she found an Easter egg at my grandmother’s when we were kids. My parents were amused. It was the day before Easter and this well hidden, well camouflaged egg had remained undiscovered for nearly a year. 

Pete and Sam Harass Iguanas

I blame my Aunt Anne for not warning my cousin Sam. She reads this blog and should certainly know what a visit to my place might be like for a 16 year old kid. Soy milk in the fridge, air-conditioner set to 83, heat-saving haircuts for the cats. So when Sam arrived on Saturday night I was worried that he'd be ready to leave by Sunday morning, but he's taken it all in stride and today we embarked on our first Everglades adventure. Danger and all. (CLICK ON ANY PHOTO TO ENLARGE)The huge 12 foot alligators seem to be hiding, but this doe-eyed 4 foot gator was the first to pose for Sam. (Photo by Sam)

Every Monday morning at 6:30 am I drive across the Everglades for work in Fort Lauderdale. After work we headed to Greynolds Park in North Miami to search for American Crocodiles. World-renowned herpetologist Tom Crutchfield suggested this was the place to search for the endangered (and native) crocs. There are only 2000 or so in Florida and he's seen them here before, but he warned the heat keeps them off the banks and in the water. But we might see a few non-native Iguanas. (Photo by Sam)

A smaller 3 foot Green Tree Iguana (Photo by Sam)

I went out on a limb (mangrove) to get this shot. If they felt threatened - they would plummet up to 20 feet into the water to escape. It's fun harassing Iguanas! (NOTE - As far as I know, only the people of Boca Grande encourage harassing the destructive, non-native iguanas. We weren't harassing these. By our standards)

A young Green Tree Iguana (Photo by Sam)

I need to find out what this non-native lizard is (Photo by Sam)

Annoyed, this Cuban Anole flashed his red dewlap to show who was boss.

Escape from the land of the creepy dudes. We apparently strolled down the wrong trail. Not sure why that 300 lb guy with a Fu Manchu was wearing nothing but Wrangler jeans and cowboy boots way back here in the woods. Bridge looks unsafe? No problem. We are out of here.

Everglades raccoons abound here! Feeding on the delicious McDonald's leftovers. We watched 4 of them wrestle over a BBQ dipping sauce. They're lovin' it.

(Photo by Sam)

"Hey - where did the bald guy go?" (Photo by Sam)

"There he is - can't I eat my McDonald's in peace?" (Photo by Sam)

"sniff sniff - I smell Honey Mustard" (Photo by Sam)

White-lipped Tree Frogs

The trail led us along the edges of a brackish mangrove forest where the errant step led us face to face with female Orb Weavers and their diminutive male counterparts.

A nice muddy trip down the roads along the canals in the Everglades and my truck is looking good. Go ahead and poop on it bird! It can't get dirtier.

A nice parting shot.