I’m sure some of it depends on the species of bird, but I still don’t get it.
In: Biology
I am an avian biologist and my experience has been different than most of what I am reading here. The birds species I work with share incubation duties- plenty of species do that. And they regularly take breaks from the nest, esp on cooler days. They are extremely attentive when it is very hot and will constantly incubate or shade the eggs (the cutest is when they will get their breast feathers wet and shade the eggs while dripping water on them). We have had eggs get flooded or buried and if it is within a day or so until they are recovered, those eggs can often still be viable. Colder weather or that situation will slow them down and they hatch a little later than we expect, but they do make it. Too hot def seems a bigger an issue, and the birds seem to know it.
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