In the second paper to be published from Hanja’s thesis, we have demonstrated that zebra finches would rather nest next to a pair that are also just starting to breed, than a pair that is further along. Hanja and team demonstrated this by erecting new empty nest boxes near to occupied boxes, at either nest-building, incubating or chick rearing stages. Pairs were far more likely to lay eggs in the experimental boxes that were close to those that had also initially been at the nest building stage. We believe that these results are driven by the social benefits of breeding alongside other pairs at a similar stage of activity. The paper is published in the journal Animal Behaviour, and can be downloaded for free in the next month using this link.