Data from: Delayed incubation leads to hatching failure of a Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia) nest

Birds face strong selective pressures to complete individual nesting
attempts as quickly as possible to minimize exposure of nests to predators
and weather, maximize renesting potential, and maximize hatching success.
As a result, the duration of developmental periods and overall nest
periods are often relatively constant within species. However, birds may
sometimes be subject to acute energetic constraints that may preclude them
from initiating incubation at the optimal time. We report an extraordinary
case of delayed incubation by a female Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia)
in Oregon, USA, which contrasted sharply with a large sample of nests
monitored by motion-activated video cameras in western North America from
2015 to 2018. The focal female delayed incubation by 11 days following
clutch completion and subsequently experienced near-total hatching failure
of her clutch. This observation corroborates previous experimental studies
regarding the limits to egg viability and trade-offs between the timing of
incubation onset and hatching success. These findings illustrate the acute
trade-offs faced by nesting birds, and the cost of delayed incubation that
we observed in this owl could help explain the cause of asynchronous
hatching.