Egg size and clutch size in the reproductive investment of American Kestrels

Abstract

We studied causes and consequences of egg‐size variation among clutches of American kestrels (Falco sparverius). Egg. from 275 clutches were measured 1990 to 1992. To test the hypothesis that the size of eggs was contrained by food availability in the pre‐laying period, we censused small mammal populations in the three years and performed a food supplementation experiment in 1990 and 1991. Kestrels did not advance the date they laid their first egg but did lay significantly larger eggs in response to extra food. The size of eggs was correlated with small mammal abundance on the territoty, and females in good body condition tended to lay large eggs. Body size did not affect egg size, and there were no relationship between agg size and laying date except in 1900, the poorest food year. Clutches with a large mean egg volume had better hatching success than clutches containing small eggs. We argue that there is a phonetypic component to egg size in kestrels, and that kestrels use egg size to fine‐tune reproductive investiment to available resources.