practice of postponing incubation until the last or next-to-last egg in a clutch has been laid; suspends development of the earlier embryos so that once incubation begins all embryos develop at the same rate and the eggs hatch synchronously; includes ducks, geese, shorebirds, most songbirds, woodpeckers, and poultry; often applied to Bald Eagles and other raptors, somewhat misleadingly since usually these do incubate the earlier eggs at least part of the time, and their eggs hatch asynchronously; see intermittent incubation