“My husband and I heard a big crash at 5 a.m., like something had fallen off the roof. He found this feathery mass on the ground just now.”

Answer: “Ok, showed this to my wife (ornithologist and zookeeper of 15+ years). The inside very likely has fly eggs on it and the feathers are likely from a duck (down in the cut away section gives it away). But she has never seen a feathered mass grown off of a bird like this. So possible tumor that got pinched off the main body?”

Also read: “The hole gets smaller when I squeeze it. Found in the kitchen at my parents’ house. What do I use it for?”