48
All female birds lay eggs. The young grow inside the
eggs, which are kept warm by their parents. To hatch,
they must chip their way through the eggshell. Some
chicks, such as ducklings, can run and walk around soon
after hatching, but other baby birds hatch at a much earlier
stage in their development when they are naked, blind,
and almost helpless.Eggs
(^1) GREAT AUK
This beautiful egg is one of the last
relics of a big flightless seabird that
once lived in the north Atlantic and
hunted fish like a penguin. Each
pair laid just one egg, and the last
known pair was killed in 1844.
(^2) GOLDEN EAGLE
A female golden eagle lays two eggs
a few days apart. She keeps the first
egg warm so it hatches earlier. This
chick may be the only one to survive
if food is hard to find.
(^3) KING PENGUIN
King penguins breed in huge
colonies on windswept rocky islands
around Antarctica. Each female lays
one egg and both parents take turns
keeping it warm by supporting it on
their feet beneath their warm bellies.
(^4) OSTRICH
The ostrich is the world’s largest
bird, and it lays the biggest eggs.
Each one can weigh anything up to
1.9 kg (4 lbs) – the same weight as
27 chicken’s eggs.
(^5) QUAIL
The quail lays a huge clutch of up
to 18 eggs in a nest on the ground.
Like many eggs, they have
camouflage markings that make
them harder to see. The female
starts keeping them warm only
after she lays the last one. This
means they start developing at the
same time, so they all hatch at
once. The chicks are active as soon
as they hatch, just like ostriches.
(^6) SPARROWHAWK
In the 1960s, sparrowhawks suffered
from poisoning by pesticides used in
farming. The poisons thinned their
eggshells, so they broke when the
birds tried to keep them warm. Most
of these pesticides are now banned.
1 2
5
4
3
6
7
Blackcap
Waxwing
Cu
rle
w
Red
sh
an
k
Ca
rr
io
n^
cro
w
Sky
lar
k
Pe
re
gr
in
e^
fa
lco
n
Co
rm
or
an
t
Gu
ill
em
ot
El
eg
an
t^ cr
ested (^) tin
am
ou
Os
tric
h^ c
hick
bre
aking^ out^ of^ shell
Co
al
tit
Ce
tti’s warbler
Qu
ai
l
pS
ar
ro
w
ha
wk
Cu
ck
oo
G
re
at
a
uk
(^)
(^) G
ol
de
n
ea
gl
e
(^)
Kin
g
pe
ng
ui
n
048_049_Eggs.indd 48 03/01/19 12:09 PM