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Birds
Feathers, Flight & Song
Record holders, adaptations and the dinosaur connection.
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What is the largest living bird species?
Nests, Eggs and Raising Chicks
Breeding is where birds differ most from one another, from a bare ledge with one egg to a mound of rotting vegetation with a thermostat.
About this topic
Every bird lays eggs, and beyond that the similarities run out quickly. A cliff-nesting guillemot builds nothing at all and lays a single egg shaped so that it will roll in a circle rather than off the ledge. A malleefowl buries its clutch in a heap of decaying vegetation and spends months adjusting the covering to hold the temperature steady. A cuckoo builds nothing, incubates nothing and feeds nothing, having handed the entire job to a bird of another species. The deepest division is between chicks that hatch ready to run and chicks that hatch naked and blind. The first strategy needs a large, well-provisioned egg and buys independence early; the second needs weeks of feeding but allows a smaller egg and a faster laying cycle. Which one a species uses shapes almost everything else about its breeding season, including how many eggs it can afford and where it can afford to nest.
Questions & answers
Nests, Eggs and Raising Chicks: all 10 questions and answers
Every question in this quiz is listed below with its correct answer and the reasoning behind it. Play first if you would rather not see the answers — or read through as a study sheet.
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1A bird that hatches covered in down and able to walk almost at once is described as what?
- A Altricial
- B Passerine
- C Nidicolous
- D Precocial Correct
Answer: D. Precocial
Why: Ducklings and the chicks of most ground-nesting birds fit the pattern. Songbirds hatch naked and helpless, which is the opposite condition.
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2Why are the eggs of cliff-nesting guillemots so sharply pointed at one end?
- A It reduces the amount of calcium needed for the shell
- B It allows several eggs to be stacked together securely
- C The shape makes a disturbed egg roll in a tight circle rather than off the ledge Correct
- D It lets the chick break out of the shell more quickly
Answer: C. The shape makes a disturbed egg roll in a tight circle rather than off the ledge
Why: The birds use no nest material whatsoever, laying straight onto bare rock. The markings on each egg also differ enough for a parent to pick out its own.
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3The brood parasitism practised by the common cuckoo involves what?
- A Returning to occupy the same nest for many years running
- B Laying eggs in the nests of other species, which then raise the chick Correct
- C Several females sharing and defending a single nest
- D Stealing food from other birds in mid-air
Answer: B. Laying eggs in the nests of other species, which then raise the chick
Why: Different female lineages specialise on different hosts and lay eggs that mimic theirs. The newly hatched cuckoo shoulders the host's own eggs out of the nest.
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4What is a brood patch?
- A A bare area of belly skin that transfers heat directly to the eggs Correct
- B A shallow hollow scraped in the ground for nesting
- C A patch of bright feathers grown only for courtship
- D A shared area of ground used by a nesting colony
Answer: A. A bare area of belly skin that transfers heat directly to the eggs
Why: Feathers are excellent insulation, which is exactly the problem when the job is warming eggs, so many birds shed them there for the breeding season.
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5Which bird builds no nest at all and incubates its single egg balanced on top of its feet?
- A The wandering albatross
- B The greater flamingo
- C The Atlantic puffin
- D The emperor penguin Correct
Answer: D. The emperor penguin
Why: The male holds it under a fold of skin through the Antarctic winter while the female feeds at sea, and he may go without food for over two months.
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6The malleefowl of Australia incubates its eggs by which method?
- A Carrying the eggs between its feet as it moves
- B Laying them in shallow water warmed by the sun
- C Burying them in a large mound of decaying plant matter whose temperature it adjusts Correct
- D Sitting on the clutch in the usual way for several weeks
Answer: C. Burying them in a large mound of decaying plant matter whose temperature it adjusts
Why: The male tests the mound with his bill and adds or scrapes away sand to hold it near 33 degrees Celsius. The chick digs itself out and gets no further care.
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7What is the main advantage of nesting in a dense colony?
- A A longer stretch of usable daylight for feeding
- B Many more eyes to spot a predator, and numbers enough to mob it Correct
- C Warmer air temperatures immediately around each nest
- D Less competition for food in the surrounding area
Answer: B. Many more eyes to spot a predator, and numbers enough to mob it
Why: The costs are disease, parasites and stolen nest material. A large seabird colony also strips the nearby sea, so foraging trips lengthen as it grows.
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8The colours and speckling of birds' eggshells come mainly from what?
- A Pigments laid down in the shell gland as the egg passes through Correct
- B Mud and grit picked up from the lining of the nest
- C Down feathers pressed into the shell while it is still wet
- D Mineral deposits drawn directly from the parent's diet
Answer: A. Pigments laid down in the shell gland as the egg passes through
Why: Only two pigments produce the entire range of colours and markings, one of them derived from haemoglobin and the other from bile.
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9What is an egg tooth?
- A The first true tooth of a newly hatched chick
- B A ridge inside the shell that weakens it before hatching
- C A structure the parent bird uses to open the egg
- D A small hard point on the beak used to break out of the shell Correct
Answer: D. A small hard point on the beak used to break out of the shell
Why: It drops off or is absorbed within days of hatching. Crocodiles, turtles and some snakes have independently evolved their own version of the same tool.
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10In most phalarope species, which parent incubates the eggs and raises the young?
- A Both parents equally
- B Neither, because the chicks feed themselves from hatching
- C The male Correct
- D The female
Answer: C. The male
Why: The usual pattern is reversed, with the brighter, larger female competing for mates and then leaving. Care by the male alone is rare across birds as a whole.
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