Like numerous other bird lovers in spring and summer, I delight in watching our songbirds — cardinals, bluebirds, blue jays, brown thrashers — as they go about building nests, incubating eggs, feeding babies, defending territories and, finally, producing fledglings.
In all of this, the males seem as devoted as the females in feeding and caring for their offspring. So, on this Father’s Day eve, it seems appropriate to take a look at the roles of avian dads.
In 90 percent of bird species, males play key roles in building nests and helping rear, feed and protect their young. Among numerous species, the males are just as adept at parental duties as females.
The brown thrasher, Georgia’s official state bird, is a good example.
Known for his spirited singing in spring and a repertoire of hundreds of songs — more than any other Georgia songbird — the sleek, cinnamon-brown male thrasher shares in the performance of household duties with his female mate.
He helps her select a site for their nest on the ground or in dense shrubs and bushes. Together, they build their bulky, cup-like nest out of sticks, twigs, leaves, weeds, grass, bark fibers and line it with soft grass or rootlets.
The female lays 4-5 eggs that she and the male take turns incubating for 11-14 days. When she is on the nest, the male feeds her and, after the eggs hatch, helps feed the brood. When the babies fledge 9-13 days later, both parents continue to feed them for several more days before the young take off on their own.
“Few birds show more concern over their eggs or young as does the brown thrasher,” wrote late Georgia ornithologist Thomas Burleigh. “Any intruder, whether it be a snake, a cat, or a man is savagely attacked if the nest is threatened.”
A major exception to all of this is the male ruby-throated hummingbird, a truly deadbeat dad. After impregnating the female, he takes off and is gone forever out of her life.
IN THE SKY: From David Dundee, Tellus Science Museum astronomer: Summer begins at 12:24 p.m. on Wednesday — the longest day of the year. The moon is last quarter today. Mercury and Venus are low in the east around dawn. Jupiter is high in the east, and Saturn rises in that direction around sunset
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