I live in the eastern panhandle of West Virginia, near the confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers. I have a pile of hardwood bark mulch that I have not disturbed since it was delivered from the nursery about 6 weeks ago. Today I was scooping up some mulch with my tractor and spreading it from the tractor loader with a pitchfork and I found this egg (attached picture) in the loader bucket. The egg is white and is 3 3/4" long. It is intqact except for some small cracks and one small missing piece of shell - the internal membrane is intact. I could feel no movement in the egg but it is fairly weighty so it isn't empty.

Can anyone give me any idea what kind of bird/animal might lay a 3 3/4" egg in a mulch pile in northeastern West Virginia?? [img]/forums/images/icons/confused.gif[/img]