Posted by Kara Mellett on May 23, 2008

Q: I recently was pruning some very tall bushes around my deck, when I stumbled across a nest that had 2 very light blue eggs with brown speckles. I immediately stopped pruning so as to leave the nest as private as possible. Everyday I would peek from a distance to see if the mom was still coming to the nest, I assumed it was a cardinal because I could always spot the orange beak. I could have sworn that she was on her nest yesterday afternoon. This evening I saw that she was not at the nest so I decided to take a look by climbing on my deck banister so that I could look down into the nest without disturbing it. There are no eggs! And there are no shells! What could have happened. Would she keep coming to the nest even if there are no eggs? I am just totally shocked and was looking forward to watching the babies. Is there anyway that she would have moved the eggs? I don't think I would 've known the nest was there if I had not been pruning. I saw that you answered some similar questions that rodents might have eaten the eggs. Is that still possible even if the nest was about 6 ft off the ground. Do squirrels eat eggs? Just very curious and dissapointed. I hope that I didn't cause this to happen! Your attempt to answer would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Habitat: suburban/yard

State: North Carolina

Habitat: suburban/yard

A: I doubt that the female would sit on an empty nest. I suspect that the contents of the nest got eaten by a predator. There are many kinds of animals that eat eggs or even nestlings and can easily get into a nest that is high off the ground, including mice (they can climb well), squirrels, raccoons, opossums, blue jays, crows, grackles, several kinds of snakes, and others. I have seen a young Black Rat Snake consume a clutch of four eggs in fifteen minutes, well off the ground! Nest predation rates are often quite high — in some places well more than half the nests get attacked by a predator before they can fledge young. The trimming you did may have exposed the nest to predation by birds — I would guess that most other predators would discover the nest from below, and many would use their sense of smell, rather than sight, to locate it. Chances are your nest would have been discovered by a predator anyway. The female will most likely build a new nest somewhere nearby, and will probably fledge a family before the end of the breeding season.

I hope this helps.

Solon Morse ( May 27, 2008)