SUPER MOMS

Whether they are laid-back layers or helicopter moms, multiple parenting styles emerge among mothers in the bird kingdom.

- BROWNE GRIVAS

Discover 15 unusual facts about how feathered matriarchs rule their roosts.

CARRYING THE LOAD

Mama hummingbirds do it all. The ultimate multitaskers, they build the nest, handle hunting and feeding, and sometimes even build a second nest for the next brood while caring for their current hatchlings!

WORKING TOGETHER

Co-parenting with a bonded male-female pair happens in about 81% of bird species, while single mom parenting occurs in 8% of the bird world species.

AS STRONG AS AN EGG

Eggs may seem fragile, but they are engineered like stone bridges to hold up under the weight of their parent. An ostrich egg, for instance, can withstand about 120 pounds of pressure before breaking.

CALL OF THE MOTHERS

After an icy ultramarathon marching up to 125 miles to find food, an emperor penguin female issues a unique call to find its mate among thousands of identical father-chick pairs. When her partner answers with his distinct call, he and their chick can eat.

KEEPING IT COOL

Climate control comes first for the least tern, which nests by the shore, or as their habitat shrinks, in sun-baked gravel parking lots and on rooftops. On the hottest days, the female may wet her body in the ocean to cool her brood as she sits on the nest and shades her eggs or chicks from the sun with her body.

FULL-TIME DAD

In a role reversal, the female Wilson’s phalarope may lay multiple broods in a season and then leave, letting the more subtly colored males take care of the families.

HAPPY TO BE HOME