Broodiness
behavioral tendency to sit on a clutch of eggs to incubate them
Broodiness is the action or behavioral tendency to sit on a clutch of eggs to incubate them, often requiring the non-expression of many other behaviors including feeding and drinking. Being broody has been defined as "Being in a state of readiness to brood eggs that is characterized by cessation of laying and by marked changes in behavior and physiology". Broodiness is usually associated with female birds, although males of some bird species become broody and some non-avian animals also show broodiness.
In wild birds
In wild birds, egg incubation is a normal and essential phase in the process of reproduction, and in many families of birds, e.g. pigeons, the eggs are incubated by both male and female parents.
Broodiness in males
In all species of phalaropes, the males become broody rather than the female. The females leave the nest after finishing laying to let the males incubate the eggs and take care of the young. Male emus (Dromaius novaehollandiae) become broody after their mates start laying, and begin to incubate the eggs before the laying period is complete. Male cassowaries are the ones who brood and raise the chicks, with the females playing no role beyond laying the eggs.
Non-broodiness
A small number of atypical birds such as Passeriformes of the genus Molothrus (cowbirds) do not become broody but lay their eggs in the nests of other species for incubation, known as brood parasitism.
The public source identifies “Broodiness” as behavioral tendency to sit on a clutch of eggs to incubate them. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Broodiness, behavioral and tendency.
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This entry incorporates text from “Broodiness” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.