Occurrence of twin embryos in the eastern bluebird

Abstract

We report the first record of presumed twinning in eastern bluebird (Sialia sialis) and provide a review of previously reported twinning events in wild birds. A nest containing twin eastern bluebird nestlings was monitored in 2013 in central Pennsylvania and reported to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s NestWatch program, a national program where volunteers submit data on wild nesting birds. A presumed double-yolked egg of a free-living eastern bluebird pair hatched successfully, and twin nestlings lived for 11 days in a nest box shared by three siblings. Due to the rarity of twinning in wild birds, engaging the public to monitor large numbers of nests is the most likely approach to documenting twinning in wild populations, and citizen science provides the infrastructure for individuals to share observations.

A Case of Bronze Turkey Twins Developing from Hatching

“…Particularly interesting seems to be the case of two genetically identical emu chicks (Bassett et al. ) and the case of successful hatching of eastern bluebird ( Sialia siali ) twins (Bailey and Clark ). The latter is even more interesting considering that the chicks hatched as a result of natural incubation without human interference.…”