EGG-CITE FOR WHITE!
WHITE BLUEBIRD EGGS? It happens. Approximately 5% laying female bluebirds are missing the pigment gene to color the eggs blue as they pass through her oviduct. The eggs are just as fertile, generally, as the blue ones. Note the slightly pinkish hue. I’ve seen them before actually pure white. When I first saw those feathers, I thought Tree Swallows. But no, they are bluebirds. There are not enough of the right feathers for TRES and I saw the pair in the tree above me anyway. To read up more about white bluebird eggs, here is a great page for that: http://www.sialis.org/whiteeggs.htm
I have a Barn Swallow in my Bluebird house and they have laid 3 eggs this color — ???
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Sorry I missed this question last year. Barn swallows are not cavity nesting birds. They nest on ledges, for example. You may be thinking you had a Tree Swallow, a wonderful native cavity nesting birds. Allow them to nest in 2020.
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I have had a bluebird box for years. This year we got our first white eggs. I thought some other bird made a home in there. I watched and sure enough its a Bluebird. (only 2 white eggs). Usually we get 4 to 5 blue eggs. I live in Central Virginia.
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8 percent average bluebird females will lay white eggs. Fun to see! Thanks for sharing!
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Just now finding this website and happy to report that today we checked our box and found five white eggs. Last year we also had a clutch of white eggs, so we assume the same mother is back. We live in the Upstate of SC.
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WOW! Never knew this would happen! What would cause this. Sure they are BB eggs?
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YEP…Eastern Bluebirds I had white eggs in 2011. Did you read my full post with explanation of why white eggs will happen occasionally?
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