Nest tragedy at the wetlands?

[Yay Chicks!]

So, I went to our local wetlands today and was dismayed to find, on a place next to the path, a number of duck (I assume) eggs that looked like they had been broken into and cleaned out. I found the nest and there were several more in there in the same condition. Predators around there could be eagles, nutria or beavers. I wondered if they could possibly have hatched, but having never hatched an egg, did not know if the egg is zipped all the way around, or whether it could look like a large hole (which all these eggs had). Anyway, I'm guessing predator...very sad...but wanted to run it past the duck people just in case. I haven't seen any ducklings yet this year, although there are several Canadian goose families.

 

[desertdarlene]

It sounds like a predator got them. I know I've seen the results of crow attacks on eggs and they do pound a hole just about in the center of the eggs. Also, rodents will do something similar. It's entirely possible that the nest was already abandoned before the predators got to it, especially considering that there were many eggs destroyed. With a lot of predators, they only eat a few at a time and then come back for more. If you look inside the ones with the holes, you might see what's left of the embryo that can tell you how far along it was. A lot of birds will abandoned a more newly laid nest easier than a nest they've been sitting on all month. The mom may have been scared away from the nest by a number of reasons, including human activity.

 

[Yay Chicks!]

Right. The hole was on the side, in the middle of all the eggs. And all the eggs were completely empty. No embryos. I had never seen anything like that there. We don't have a lot of crows in this area, but a few seagulls do come by.