DOI: 10.5061/dryad.cjsxksnf3
title: Data from: Timing of egg-laying in relation to a female's social environment in European starlings

description: It is widely assumed that female birds use non-photic supplemental cues,
 including social factors, to fine-tune timing of egg-laying to local
 conditions, but our knowledge of the nature of these social cues and how
 they operate remains limited. We analyzed the relationship between a
 female’s social environment (nearest neighbor distances, residency, female
 -and- network familiarity, synchrony) and variation in timing of
 egg-laying in European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) using individual,
 residual laying date (controlling for annual variation) and
 temperature-independent residual laying date (accounting for the effect of
 ambient temperature on laying date). Female social environment varied
 systematically with overall spatial distribution of nest-boxes (linear vs
 clumped boxes) but this was not associated with spatial variation in
 laying date or temperature-independent residual laying date. We found no
 evidence for any relationships between individual variation in social
 environment and individual, residual laying date and only weak evidence
 for any association with individual, temperature-independent residual
 laying date. The latter was associated with a) nearest neighbor distances
 in the linear habitat, with females nesting closer to neighbors laying
 earlier than predicted by temperature, but not in the two clumped
 habitats, and b) neighbor familiarity: females with an intermediate number
 of returning females (3/8) laid closest to the predicted date. Finally,
 despite the fact that synchrony was not associated with other social
 environment metrics, females with lower laying synchrony among neighbors
 laid earlier than predicted by temperature. This suggests that some
 components of the female-female social environment could act as
 supplemental cues for timing of egg-laying.
description: ### Data explained All distances are measured in meters. '.'
 denotes unavailable data (i.e., unable to confirm band number due to early
 nest failure, so data for residency, female familiarity, and network
 familiarity of these birds is unavailable)  * Year - Year data was
 collected * Loc - Location nestbox is on research site (New Barn, Old
 Barn, Main Field) * Box - The box number a female nested in * Orientation
 - The orientation of the box a female nested in * LD - Julian laying date
 of a female * xLD - The mean Julian laying date of the population for the
 year data was collected * residLD - The difference between a females
 laying date and the average laying date of all females the year data was
 collected * Ta_predLD - The predicted mean laying date for the year based
 on Julian 2-94 (2 Jan - 4 Apr) based on the calculated formula in Leonard
 and Williams 2023 * Ta_residLD - The difference between a females actual
 laying date and the temperature-predicted laying date of the year the data
 was collected * allyr_resid - The difference between a female's
 laying date and the mean laying date of all the years data has been
 collected * Band - The band number of the female nesting in the selected
 box * Residency - The number of times a female nested in the same box in
 consecutive years (1 = first use) * Network_fam - The number of
 individuals in an environment that returned to the same environment in
 consecutive years, based around a focal nestbox * Female_fam - The number
 of females in an environment that a focal female nested with the year
 prior, based around a focal female * neigh_1 - The box number of the
 closest female to a focal female * dist_1 - The distance between a focal
 females nestbox to the box of the closest female * LDn1 - The actual
 laying date for the closest female neighbor * band_1 - The band number of
 the closest female neighbor * neigh_2 - The box number of the
 second-closest female to a focal female * dist_2 - The distance between a
 focal females nestbox to the box of the second-closest female * LDn2 - The
 actual laying date for the second-closest female neighbor * band_2 - The
 band number of the second-closest female neighbor * neigh_3 - The box
 number of the third-closest female to a focal female * dist_3 - The
 distance between a focal females nestbox to the box of the third-closest
 female * LDn3 - The actual laying date for the third-closest female
 neighbor * band_3 - The band number of the third-closest female neighbor *
 x3dist_individual - The mean distance to a neighbors' first-third
 closest neighbors * neigh_4 - The box number of the fourth-closest female
 to a focal female * dist_4 - The distance between a focal females nestbox
 to the box of the fourth-closest female * LDn4 - The actual laying date
 for the fourth-closest female neighbor * band_4 - The band number of the
 fourth-closest female neighbor * neigh_5 - The box number of the
 fifth-closest female to a focal female * dist_5 - The distance between a
 focal females nestbox to the box of the fifth-closest female * LDn5 - The
 actual laying date for the fifth-closest female neighbor * band_5 - The
 band number of the fifth-closest female neighbor * neigh_6 - The box
 number of the sixth-closest female to a focal female * dist_6 - The
 distance between a focal females nestbox to the box of the sixth-closest
 female * LDn6 - The actual laying date for the sixth-closest female
 neighbor * band_6 - The band number of the sixth-closest female neighbor *
 neigh_7 - The box number of the seventh-closest female to a focal female *
 dist_7 - The distance between a focal females nestbox to the box of the
 seventh-closest female * LDn7 - The actual laying date for the
 seventh-closest female neighbor * band_7 - The band number of the
 seventh-closest female neighbor * x7dist_indiv - The mean distance between
 the focal female and her 1-7 nearest neighbors * xNN1_7 - The mean
 distance of neighbors 1-7 for the year data was collected * residNN - The
 difference between a focal females 1-7 neighbors and the mean of distances
 1-7 for that year * meanLD1_7 - The mean laying date of the 1-7 neighbors
 of a focal female * sdLD1_7 - The standard deviation between a focal
 female's laying date and her 1-7 neighbors laying date * cvLD1_7 -
 The coefficient of variation of the laying date of a focal females
 neighbors 1-7 (synchrony)