Phoebe, Amos Lake

While biologically this may well be an invention, I'd like to believe that on Father's Day, Papa Phoebe—telling males from females in Sayornis phoebe is very tricky—is not working too hard to feed a nest full of kids that we found up at the lake, where we headed in the afternoon to celebrate fatherhood, as well as my oldest grandson's 17th birthday. While these noisy birds, whose raspy call is among the first heard in early spring, are not notably social, the males do provide food for their nestlings and attempt—alas, too often unsuccessfully—to protect their territories from intruders, most notably nest parasites such as Brown-headed Cowbirds. So let's imagine that this guy is celebrating the day dedicated to dads everywhere the right way... by being a true father and doing a great job of feeding his family. We celebrated our way: by gathering together for a barbecue and a swim with our kids and grandkids... and getting a picture of what I imagine is a hard-working papa. If this is in fact mom, well, isn't every day Mother's Day?