practice of incubating earlier eggs of a clutch part of the time until all eggs are laid; slows down development of the earlier embryos so that the eggs hatch more closely together, although never synchronously; includes Bald Eagles and other raptors, herons, egrets, cranes, and parrots; among most species the time spent incubating increases as more eggs are laid, which along with the point at which full-time incubation starts varies among species and breeding pairs (many falcon species postpone full-time incubation until the next-to-last egg is laid, but their eggs still hatch asynchronously); perhaps a better term than “delayed incubation” for Bald Eagles and other raptors, since these parents do incubate earlier eggs at least part of the time, and their eggs hatch asynchronously