This is the accepted version of the following article: Germain, R. R., Wolak, M. E., Arcese, P., Losdat, S. and Reid, J. M. (2016), Direct and indirect genetic and fine-scale location effects on breeding date in song sparrows. J Anim Ecol, 85: 1613–1624., which has been published in final form at doi: 10.1111/1365-2656.12575. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with the Wiley Self-Archiving Policy [http://olabout.wiley.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-828039.html].