1980 R.L. Musume 22 Melanerpes formicivorus Plague (23 May) carrying a full sized egg in her bill!! Egg-tossing! I only wish I knew what had been going on! I check the nest, and find one egg, a runt (walter later measures, 21.1 x 16.6). It was cold to the touch. I marked it #1 Later, Sandy sees ♀494 exit carrying an egg (marked #1) in her bill!! I check the nest, and it is now empty. See her notes for details. Anyway, 2 eggs laid today, both tossed out by ♀494. One of the eggs was a runt, the other apparently normal. Because of both ♀♀ being in the hole at the same time, there is much more confusion than I would have liked. But here is the poop! 1) ♀496 was in the hole by herself at intervals between 0815.30 and 0835. ♀494 was never in the nest alone, except for the 5 seconds on the trip at 0840 when she tossed the egg. Although she *both* may have laid the egg and pulled out the other one at the same time (as I originally suspected), I now kind of doubt it. The time was very brief, and the runt egg was cold to the touch when I got to the nest a few min. later 2) The logical conclusion is that each ♀ laid an egg each, and that for some strange reason, ♀494 tossed hers as well as ♀496's out. That one of the eggs was a runt adds a good deal of confusion. It is possible even that ♀496 laid *both* this morning!