Northern Jacana

From USFWS Southeast Region:

Father's Day got us thinking about dads, and what it means to be an ideal father in the animal world. There are a surprising number of contenders for father of the year in the Gulf of Mexico.

First up is the Northern Jacana. Male jacanas do all the hard work of making the nests, incubating the eggs and caring for the chicks. A male jacana is typically such a good father that if his eggs are in danger, he’ll carry them to a new nesting site under his wing. Dad often will even care for eggs that were fertilized by other males. (Photo: USFWS)