Our young female successfully dug her first (complete) nest last night and deposited 6 eggs. This was her third attempt: the first 2 were abandoned after she encountered large roots during the process.
The nest itself was a thing of beauty: she did an excellent job of covering it and obscuring its whereabouts. It was perfectly formed, and a text-book 3 1/8 in (8cm) deep.
There was, however, one glitch: she laid 5 eggs and deposited and positioned them well in the nest cavity, and had almost completely refilled the nest when she laid the sixth egg. It was covered with only 1/8 in. of soil, and, unfortunately, I accidentally ruptured it as I was uncovering (carefully, I thought)the nest. In the greater scheme of things, I don't feel too terribly bad about it, because its doubtful that an embryo could have developed since it would have been exposed to excessively high temperatures, being that close to the surface. If a predator had discovered the 'top' egg, it may also have spelled doom for the rest of the clutch.
Meanwhile, we also now have a second clutch from another female: she was the first to lay eggs 20 days ago, and laid again last night.
In checking my notes from previous years, this is a fairly typical interval for her.
She laid 4 eggs per clutch, which is also true to form for her.
Her nest was only about 14" away from last night's other nest. This is the second time this year that she's had company while digging, in the form of another nesting female.
Stephanie
