Bird Dad Awards: The Innovative, the Endearing, and the Less-Than-Admirable

Last month we . Now it鈥檚 time for the bird dads. Just like with females, these guys employ many different strategies for raising their young. Here we present the 鈥淔ather Knows Best Awards鈥 for distinctive parenting, just in time for Father鈥檚 Day.

Most Innovative Dad: Malleefowl


Photo: /

The male of this large ground-dwelling Australian species takes nearly a year to build what鈥檚 called a Malleefowl mound, an incubation heap of compostable materials like soil and leaves that can be up to 72 feet wide and 3 feet tall. The female lays her eggs in the mound, where heat from decaying and fermentation incubates them. Dad adds or removes material as necessary to maintain temperature control for his chicks-to-be. As one bird expert put it, 鈥淭he Malleefowl represents an impressive kind of avian fatherhood.鈥

Clutch size: 18
For more information:

Best Provider: Red-tailed Hawk


Photo: /

The male of this common North American bird of prey brings home the bacon, so to speak. What he鈥檚 actually bringing are rodents and other small mammals, plus some birds and reptiles, to the mother of his chicks and eventually, his young. He helps incubate the eggs, too. Once the chicks arrive, the male still fetches dinner and the female preps it by tearing it up for their offspring.

Clutch size: 2-3
For more information:

Best Single Dad: Red Phalarope


Photo: /

After the female lays her eggs, she scrams and the male of this pelagic species takes over, incubating the eggs for three weeks and then raising his chicks alone. Granted, dad doesn鈥檛 have to feed the babies鈥攆rom day one, they can walk, run, swim, and find their own meals鈥攂ut he sticks around for two weeks after they hatch, calling to his young with a Whe-eep, then landing nearby when they respond.

Clutch size:
4
For more information:

Best Parenting Partner: Emperor Penguin


Photo: /

After mom lays a single egg, she immediately transfers it to papa鈥檚 feet, where it stays warm under a brood pouch of skin and feathers. The female heads off to sea for weeks, leaving dad to fend for himself against the frigid Antarctic winter. (Finding themselves in similar circumstances鈥攁lone in the cold鈥攎any Emperor penguin males huddle together for warmth.) Once mom returns, refreshed and well fed, dad takes off for his weeks-long feast. Eventually, mom and dad take turns feeding their young, in what might be described as avian co-parenting.

Clutch size: 1
For more information:

Deadbeat Dad: Allen鈥檚 Hummingbird


Photo: /

Sure, the male鈥檚 flashiness may help him score a female initially, but he does nothing to help prepare for the chicks鈥攖he female builds the nest鈥攎uch less tend to them. In fact, pair bonding is relatively non-existent for this species. Mom incubates the eggs alone. She turns them by herself. And once they鈥檙e born, she broods day and night for at least 10 days. By that point, dad鈥檚 long gone.

Clutch size: 2
For more information: