Male pigeons increase incubation effort when food becomes scarce
A study by Technical University of Munich researchers found that male pigeons compensate for food shortages by spending more time incubating eggs, allowing females additional time to forage. When food was readily available, females spent 81 percent of time on the nest and males 17 percent; under reduced food availability, females decreased their effort to 75 percent while males increased to 22 percent, maintaining nearly constant overall nest attendance. The study of 75 pigeon nests across three cities found that female pigeons with adequate food were about 35 grams (10 percent) heavier than unfed females, indicating energy reserve differences, while unfed males showed no meaningful weight differences.
