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An Unusually Synchronous Double Brooding Attempt by a Northern 
Flicker Pair 
Elizabeth A. Gow 12 
ABSTRACT.—Wc report an unusual case of a 
monogamous pair of Northern Flickers ( Colaptes 
auratus) initiating a second clutch while there were 
still nestlings in ihe first nest. The male and female 
incubated at both nests but only the male fed nestlings at 
the first nest. The second nest attempt was abandoned 
alter the first nestlings Hedged, possibly because the 
two broods were too synchronous in timing lor the male 
to contribute sufficiently to both. Double-brooding has 
nut been previously documented for Northern Flickers. 
Received 13 September 2011. Accepted 20 January 
2012 . 
There are two types of breeding strategies 
which allow monogamous birds to Hedge two 
’Department of Biology, University of Saskatchewan. 
112 Science Place, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5E2. Canada. 
’Corresponding author: e-mail: eliz.gow@usask.ca 
and Karen L. Wiebe 
broods within a breeding season. Double brood¬ 
ing. or having two successive broods, is not 
uncommon among altricial birds, and it increases 
reproductive success (Nagy and Holmes 2005. 
Mulvihill et al. 2009). The second clutch in 
double brooding is typically laid several days to 
weeks after nestlings from the first brood Hedge, 
when demands for parental care Irom the first 
brood decline (e.g., Ingold 1987. Mulvihill et al. 
2009). Double brooding differs from the phenom¬ 
enon of double clutching which occurs when a 
female lays a clutch for her mate and a separate 
clutch for herself, which they care for separately, 
and more or less simultaneously (Blomqvist et al. 
2001). Double-clutching requires that offspring can 
survive with uni-parental care and occurs in species 
where males incubate and can rear offspring alone, 
e.g.. Mountain Quail (Oreortyx pictus ) (Gutierrez 
