Thanks to Lynn, the education director of the Chattanooga Audubon Society, and curator of one of the world’s largest replica egg collections for helping us unravel the mystery of the egg in the woods. And thanks to the many others who tried to help, via e-mail and on Facebook.

She thinks we came across a wild turkey egg.

“It’s not uncommon for them to lay out in the open like that, though it’s a little strange that it’s just one egg. They’re ground nesters, however and they will lay in mossy areas, up against fallen logs, near the base of a tree…and don’t necessarily build much of a nest around it.”

Lynn thinks it’s possible this one was interrupted laying her clutch, or another animal tried to steal it, or perhaps she’s just getting started with her laying.

Wild turkeys are not rare around here, but it is unusual to come across an egg. It is illegal to touch the egg or move it, and we have done and will done neither. We will check on it and see if more eggs are laid or if it is moved.

The egg is hard and sits right in the middle of a path in the woods. Few people go there, but I imagine many animals do at night, when the forest becomes a completely different world. We walk in the woods almost every day, but there is so much we don’t know about the trees and the animals there.

Life is a puzzle to contemporary humans, we have lost touch with the natural world and the real lives of animals. Maria and I are always working to re-connect with both. The Internet can be a difficult thing, but it is also a miraculous tool sometimes.