From breaking through the eggshell as a feeble chick to finally taking to the air, young birds face a variety of dangers and threats to their survival - but they don't face them alone. In most species, both parents oversee the development of their offspring, using an astonishing range of strategies. This book takes as its starting point the time when courtship ends and the hard work of raising chicks begins. Using the framework of the chick's development, from inside the egg through to fledging from the nest, Eggs, chicks and fledglings explores how birds raise their offspring. The book provides an informed overview of both avian development and the evolution and ecology of parental care. It has great appeal both to the specialist reader as an accessible introduction to the latest research in the field, and to the generalist reader interested in learning more about bird behaviour and the natural history of family life in birds. Chapters will look at the natural history of mating systems, cooperative breeding, nest-building, the biology of eggs, clutch size, incubation and brooding, hatching and imprinting, chick provisioning, survivorship, parentoffspring and sibling conflicts, and fledging.