Found bird egg in grass - what do I do?

Hi, I found a bird egg in grass and being an idiot,  I took it inside to show my bf. I now don’t know what to do for the best.

If it’s a ground nesting bird’s egg, I don’t know if I put it back in exactly the right place. It will be close, but odds are not the exact spot. I don’t know if I should leave it outside and pray mama bird finds it again, or if I should take it back and try n hatch the egg. It’s located on a common area where there’s lots of dog walkers, the council mows it with those ride on mowers, and kids run up and down playing there.

I don’t have an incubator,so my only 2 options to keep an egg warm would be inside the house, which is usually between 18-20 degrees Celsius (60ish Fahrenheit) or in the compost bin where it usually reads between 38-40 degrees Celsius (100ish Fahrenheit) in the middle, so I could build an incubation nest on top maybe where it’s cooler, but still warm.

Full disclosure, I have no idea how to raise a bird, any bird, from a chick. I also have a cat. Also, a horrible guilt for moving it in the first place. I don’t want a baby bird to potentially die because of me.

Any advice would be welcomed. Thank you x

I would reach out to a wildlife rehabilitator near you, preferably one who specializes in birds. They would be the best person to help.

For what it's worth, if it is the egg of a ground nesting bird, seems like either she's only just started a clutch or something happened to the rest. They don't sit on them til they have a full clutch. So if it's the former situation, she probably wouldn't have been incubating it yet. Though if you've already added heat to the equation, I think you need to keep doing so or the developing chick will die. Of course, I'm no expert. Just a thought.

Please be gentle with yourself. Bird eggs are amazing and it's understandable you'd be excited. Given your description of the area it was in, it sounds like all kinds of worse fates could have befallen the egg. Who knows, maybe moving it will cause the mom to choose a new site somewhere less fraught with the perils of dogs, humans and mowers, thereby boosting the odds for her future eggs making it to adulthood?

Thank you for the response Heather and for being so kind about it too. I put it back almost immediately, so the only heat the egg has experienced is being in my hand for a few minutes.

There was only that one, so I guess maybe it was their first? I’ll leave it where it is for now and see if I can make contact with a bird specialist, if I can find one. Hopefully egg is in a dormancy phase and doesn’t need heat yet.