What is the study of eggs called?

Oology can have two meanings. It is used to either refer to the study of bird eggs, or it can be used to describe the collecting of bird eggs. Even though the name is the same, the impact on bird life and ecosystems is vastly different. Studying bird eggs allows scientists and conservationists to understand the breeding habits of various birds and their nests. Collecting bird eggs almost led to the extinction of many bird species, as it had become a popular hobby that is now illegal in most countries.

While practicing oology as a science, it was discovered that birds that nest and lay their eggs in bushes generally lay speckled eggs, as opposed to birds that have their nests on the ground and lay unspotted white eggs. It was also found that birds that choose trees as the ideal nesting spot have either greenish colored or blue eggs that can either be unspotted or spotted. This gives conservationists great insight into birds, their nests, amount of eggs laid and general nesting habitats of various bird species.

Collecting eggs was seen as a hobby, much like collecting stamps, during the nineteenth and twentieth century. This led to a rapid decline in birds and near extinction of some. Collectors did not just remove one egg from the nest, but the entire clutch of eggs. The rarer the bird, the more valuable their eggs became, and this endangered them even more. After the eggs were collected, they would be blown out, their contents removed, to prevent the rotting of the eggs. Egg collectors would then write a date on the egg, identify the specie and frame the eggs. It is for this reason that oology as a hobby has become illegal and in certain countries, collectors can face imprisonment.

In Britain, an overzealous oologist named Colin Watson stole the eggs out the nests of very rare and protected bird species and was fined numerous times for collecting eggs. He fell to his death from a tree in 2006, and it was revealed that he had a collection of more than two thousand eggs in his possession. Gregory Wheal, also from Britain was jailed for six months for being in possession of raven and peregrine falcon eggs, and fellow Brit, Richard Pearson had more than seven thousand seven hundred eggs, which are now protected by the law, and his detailed notes and confession described a fifteen year period of stealing eggs. Fortunately, the oology hobby became less popular and oology is now used to introduce new captive breeding methods, incubation and to save endangered species from extinction.