Why Some Birds Take so Long to Hatch

@article{Boersma1982WhySB,
  title={Why Some Birds Take so Long to Hatch},
  author={P. Dee Boersma},
  journal={The American Naturalist},
  year={1982},
  volume={120},
  pages={733 - 750}
}
  • P. Boersma
  • Published 1 December 1982
  • Biology, Environmental Science
  • The American Naturalist
In general, incubation periods of bird eggs are positively correlated with egg weights. The eggs of some birds take much longer to hatch than expected. Highly variable and long incubation periods are explained using fork-tailed storm petrels as an example. Their eggs take two to three times as long to hatch as eggs of similar size. Egg neglect causes the extreme variability in incubation periods within a species. Low incubation temperatures prolong incubation, but long incubation periods may… 
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92 Citations

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The results do not support the hypothesis that longer incubation periods are caused by reduced nest attentiveness and corresponding lower Tegg.

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It is concluded that parental attendance patterns do not account for latitudinal differences in incubation period but that some other as yet unmeasured factor intrinsic to the egg or embryo, or both, extends development time in the tropics.

Parental Behavior Controls Incubation Period and Asynchrony of Hatching in Magellanic Penguins

Parental incubation behavior explained why the incubation period of second eggs was shorter than that of first eggs and controlled asynchrony of hatching, which affects chick growth and survival.

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Egg size variation among tropical and temperate songbirds: An embryonic temperature hypothesis

  • T. E. Martin
  • Environmental Science, Biology
    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
  • 2008
It is shown that cooler egg temperatures and longer embryonic periods explained the enigmatic variation in egg mass within and among regions, based on field studies in tropical Venezuela, subtropical Argentina, and north temperate Arizona.

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The relationship between two unresolved problems in avian biology—the significance of variation among taxa in incubation period and the significance in synchrony of hatching—and their implications for other aspects of the life history are addressed.

Incubation behavior, brood patch formation and obligate brood reduction in Fiordland crested penguins

  • C. C. Clair
  • Biology
    Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology
  • 2004
Although first eggs experienced greater mortality than second eggs, losses were not associated with aggressive behavior or the degree of nest crowding, and parental brood patches did not form until after the first egg was laid; this delay may be a causal factor in the evolution of the unique reversal in eudyptid egg dimorphism.

Thermal Tolerance of Avian Embryos: A Review

Both the optimal temperature for continuous exposure and the range of temperatures producing high survivorship differ among species, and the use of a "physiological zero" applicable to all species is not warranted.

Multiple mechanisms of reversed hatching asynchrony in rockhopper penguins

Three factors - laying order, intraclutch dimorphism and laying date-contributed significantly to variation in incubation length ; first-laid eggs produced early in the season and incubated with a larger nest mate took longest to hatch.
...

References

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The eggs of sea birds with long incubation times are large in relation to the size of the adult bird in the two species that have been studied, and the high energy content of the egg is paralleled by the greater total amount of oxygen consumed during incubation, so that prolonged incubation probably entails a comparatively high allocation of energy resources to maintenance requirements.

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Whether or not there were any consistent changes in dimensions and weight with sequence of laying in this passerine species of House Wren was determined.

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