I had an uncle who was quite a birder, he knew the names and calls of many birds and not just local birds from where he grew up, he was a naval officer and spent years in various locations around the world.  I remember being on a hike with him many years ago and he was carrying a bird book or two.  He remarked that someing that would definitely improve things was “a nice plate of eggs”.  I thought it a non sequitur because he was in the middle of a critique of  one of those books, but I couldn’t really fault his conclusion – a nice plate of eggs will improve many a table.  Of course he was talking about this kind of plate and not one of these.

I was reminded of him while trying to ID the bird that laid these:Mrs J discovered the nest in the little tree beside our front walk as she was doing some pruning to clear some branches overhanging the walk.  It’s a small nest, about 7 feet up, I got the picture by holding my phone overhead and shooting blind.  I scared the little bird off the nest doing so, but didn’t get a look at it.