Ardea
Official journal of the Netherlands Ornithologists' Union

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Langlois L.A., Murböck K., Bulla M. & Kempenaers B. (2012) Unusual incubation: Long-billed Dowitcher incubates mammalian bones. ARDEA 100 (2): 206-210
It is well established that once birds have laid their eggs they sometimes incubate non-egg objects. However, reports of birds incubating solely non-egg objects (without prior manipulation by researchers) are rare. Here we report on our observation of a Long-billed Dowitcher Limnodromus scolopaceus incubating a clutch composed entirely of mammalian bones. To our knowledge, this is the first report on (a) incubation of foreign objects in Scolopacidae, (b) incubation of a ‘clutch’ composed entirely of bones, and (c) incubation of foreign objects in a nest atypical for this species in both construction and nest habitat. We discuss possible explanations for this presumably maladaptive behaviour.


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