A pileated woodpecker has been in the neighborhood for awhile. He finally came into the yard: here he is just outside our front door.

The lady slippers are peaking and we have seen more per square yard than ever before. During the first years of living here, we would see as many as twelve to twenty in one particular area about a half mile away along the old rail trail. This year we are seeing them everywhere (but, this is relative; there might be 50 per acre maximum). We have also learned that deer like to eat them. The triple play slippers we pictured earlier? They have been eaten, leaves and all.

The third image today is a broken egg, about 1 inch in diameter (mostly white with a bit of gray speckle, toward left center). Is it bird or land mammal? Was it eaten or shed during birth?