BOM RA (2016) A case of multiple brooding in Stock Doves Columba oenas. LIMOSA 89 (4): 185-188.

A case of multiple brooding in a pair of Stock Doves is described, observed with a camera positioned in the nest box. The first two eggs were laid at the end of April 2015. Approximately nine days after the two chicks of this first brood had fledged, the pair again laid two eggs in the nest box. Five days before the chicks of this second brood fledged, two new eggs of a third clutch were seen. During the five days when broods where overlapping, both of these eggs were hardly incubated by the parents and possibly as a result, only one egg of this clutch hatched. Although multiple brooding is a common characteristic among columbids like Stock Doves, the costs and benefits remain largely unclear. Benefits may include time gain, although in our case 5 days do not seem substantial as the breeding season lasted 173 days in total. Costs may include a reduced hatching success (as described here), no possibility to clean the nest for the next brood and an increase in stress and energy costs for the parents. The use of nest box cameras is becoming increasingly popular, providing ample opportunity to study multiple brooding in columbids.

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