Birdland to Celebrate Hens, Pens and Feathered Females for Mother’s Day

Some of the world’s finest feathered females will be celebrated at Birdland as part of our Mother’s Day weekend later this month. (Saturday, March 26^th – Sunday, March 27^th).

Over the weekend, the talks programme will highlight some of Birdland’s hard-working mums, providing a fascinating insight into about how different bird species looks after their young.

In some cases, like the park’s king penguins, the parents share incubation of their single egg – taking it in turns to keep the egg warm on top of their feet while in others, the males end up doing most of the hard work when it comes to looking after the babies.

Head Keeper, Alistair Keen, said: “Some of our birds will become new mums over the coming weeks so it presents the perfect opportunity to come along on Mother’s Day and see how our feathered friends bring up their young.

“We are also keeping a close eye on our colony of king penguins who are now moulting and getting ready to begin their courtship rituals,” he added.

Amazing Bird Mum Facts:

• Burrowing owls burrow underground where several eggs will be laid, away from prying eyes. 
• The flamingos build a nest cone of mud up to a foot high to protect their single egg from flooding.
• Female pheasants make a scrape on the floor and lay up to eight eggs which they will incubate and hope that their dull coloured plumage will help camouflage them
• Pigeons build a flimsy nest on a platform of twigs and lay two eggs.
• Parrots will find holes in trees in which to nest.
• Female cassowaries will lay eggs in the nests of several males then leave them to incubate and rear the young. 
• Possibly the most committed mother is the female trumpeter hornbill, she will seal herself into a cavity in a tree (or a nest box at Birdland) using mud, droppings and saliva.  She will leave a narrow gap through which the male can feed her for the following three months whilst she lays eggs, incubates them and hatches the chicks.  Once the chicks are full sized, they will break out.