A new Coccidia species is reported from the natural population of Pied Flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca) in northern Germany. Sporulated oocysts were found in faeces from 6 of 8 sampled adults. The spherical oocysts of the new Isospora species have a brownish, smooth, bi-layered wall. Average size of sporulated oocysts was 19·4×19·3 μm (17·5–22·8 μm×17·5–22·8 μm) with a shape index (length/width) of 1·0. The sporulated oocysts have no micropyle or residuum, but enclose several small polar granules that often cluster into 2–3 dumbbell-shaped formations. Sporocysts are slightly elongated, rounded at the end opposite the Stieda body, 15·3 μm×9·2 μm in size (13·8–16·1 μm× 8·5–10·3 μm), and have a shape index of 1·7 (1·6–1·8). The Stieda body has a prominent knob-like cap, whereas the substieda body is absent. Sporocysts contain a small compact sporocyst residuum and 4 sporozoites. COI haplotypes identical to those isolated from faecal oocysts were PCR amplified from the blood of 13-day-old nestlings, suggesting that the newly described species has extra-intestinal stages in blood. This represents the first description of a new avian Isospora species supported by molecular sequence data from the same oocysts that are described morphologically.

Reproductive correlates and fitness consequences (survival, recruitment) of variation in the incubation onset of pied flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca) were studied across 4 years in a southern European population, where between 36 and 89% of the females started to incubate with the penultimate egg or earlier. Females started to incubate up to 3 days before completing their clutches, this being accompanied by hatching spread. Females who advanced incubation before completing the clutch tended to be in better condition and to lay larger clutches than those that postponed incubation until the clutch was complete. Although laying date had no effect on onset of incubation, the effect of clutch size was much more marked when the influence of laying date on clutch size was controlled. Females who started to incubate earlier fledged more young than females delaying incubation but their higher fledgling success was unrelated to recruitment. Females starting to incubate with the last egg had fewer fledglings but of larger size, higher mass, and in better condition than females who advanced the incubation. Female survival to the next breeding season did not differ between those that started incubation before clutch completion and those that did not do so, but an advanced onset of incubation by females was related to higher mortality of their pair mates. Females that increased the size of the clutch with respect to the previous year tended to incubate their eggs earlier, while those whose clutch size did not change or was lower started incubation at about the same stage they did the year before. This trend was apparently influenced by improvements in body condition. Clutch size may constrain onset of incubation through environmental or genetic correlations, which are likely to be mediated by hormones. It is proposed that, in this population, an early onset of incubation in pied flycatchers does not affect reproductive fitness in most circumstances.