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Deep cup nest of the great reed-warbler. A bird nest is the spot in which a bird lays and incubates its eggs and raises its young. Although the term popularly refers to a specific structure made by the bird itself—such as the grassy cup nest of the American robin or Eurasian blackbird, or the elaborately woven hanging nest of the Montezuma oropendola or the village weaver—that is too ...
Bird eggs are coloured and patterned, seemingly primarily for camouflage to deceive the eyes of egg predators; for example, Eurasian curlews nest among tall grasses and have eggs that are green and spotted like their background, as well as being defended by the adults; in contrast, the eggs of little ringed plovers, laid on pebbly beaches, are ...
Humans have a long history of eating eggs, both wild bird eggs and farm-raised bird eggs. [citation needed] Brood parasitism occurs in birds when one species lays its eggs in the nest of another. In some cases, the host's eggs are removed or eaten by the female, or expelled by her chick.
The female lays three to six pale blue eggs, which can measure from 50.7 to 76.5 mm (2.00 to 3.01 in) in length and 29 to 50.5 mm (1.14 to 1.99 in) in width, though the smallest eggs in the above sample may have been considered "runt eggs" too small to produce viable young. Egg weights range from 61 to 80 g (2.2 to 2.8 oz). [45]
The common cuckoo brood parasite removing the reed warbler eggs from their own nest. Egg tossing or egg destruction is a behavior observed in some species of birds where one individual removes an egg from the communal nest. [1] This is related to infanticide, where parents kill their own or other's offspring. [2]
The parasites lay their own eggs into these nests so their nestlings share the food provided by the host. It may occur in other situations. For example, female eiders prefer to lay eggs in the nests with one or two existing eggs of others because the first egg is the most vulnerable to predators. The presence of others' eggs reduces the ...
The common cuckoo is an obligate brood parasite; it lays its eggs in the nests of other birds. Hatched cuckoo chicks may push host eggs out of the nest or be raised alongside the host's chicks. [17] A female may visit up to 50 nests during a breeding season. Common cuckoos first breed at the age of two years. [2]
A clutch of eggs is the group of eggs produced by birds, amphibians, or reptiles, often at a single time, particularly those laid in a nest. In birds, destruction of a clutch by predators (or removal by humans, for example the California condor breeding program) results in double-clutching. The technique is used to double the production of a ...