Jewel # 441 (March 26, 2021)

 

“And they shall be Mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I

make up MY JEWELS.

Malachi 3:17

To my dear grandchildren

Birds on the Move - Part 3

“Out of the ground the Lord God formed . . . every fowl of the air.”  Genesis 2:19

We  have been considering some facts about the migration of birds, and the question has been asked, “Why do they migrate?”  There are two main reasons.  One reason is that those living for the summer in the north need to move away from soon-coming cold weather.

While departure times from northern points usually follow close schedules, in some way that we cannot understand, migrating birds have been given ability by the Creator even to know about weather changes, long before our weathermen, and will advance there migration time to be gone before heavy storms move in.

Then, after about six months in the sunny south lands, the birds somehow sense that the ice and snow on ponds and streams of the north are melting.  Days are becoming longer again, and suitable climate conditions for hatching and raising their young compel them to make the return trips northward.

The second main reason for their migrations is that food supplies are all-important.  Again, they instinctively know that plenty of fresh, nourishing food will be waiting for them at the other end of their journey.  For instance, as though anticipating the arrival of hungry birds from the south, aphids, caterpillars, grubs, mosquitos, flies and other insects of the north make their appearance just in time for the travelers to benefit from this nourishing food, and there is plenty of it to last a long time!  The same is true of new plant life springing up, providing additional food and nesting materials.

But after five to six months in the north, the appetites of the growing bird families have made the food supply scarcer, and shorter days and colder weather prevent it from being renewed.   In contrast, southern lands have benefited by the bird’s absence, and new supplies will be awaiting their return in the fall.

Incidentally, in the Arctic areas there has been a general warming of the atmosphere, resulting in many birds now migrating there for the summer months that did not go there before.  Who told them about the changed climate? and how did they find the way?

The answers explained above may well be accurate, but but the source of the implanting of these instincts in so many varieties of birds can only come from the Creator, of whom the Bible says,      “The eyes of the L).

(to be continued)

Love you all, grandpa   

Jewel # 440 (March 22, 2021)

 

Ruby Throated Hummingbird

Arctic Tern

And they shall be Mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I 

make up MY JEWELS.

Malachi 3:17

To my dear grandchildren

Birds on the Move (Part 2)

“Yea, the stork in the heaven knows her appointed times; 

and the turtledoves and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming.”  Jeremiah 8:7

This Bible verse tells us very plainly of God’s care over the birds and his appointment of the time of their migrations.  Previously  (Part 1) we mentioned that much research had been done by ornithologists, investigating the migrations of birds throughout the world.

The greatest bird traveler of all is the Arctic tern.  This bird flies from the Aleutian Islands to Antarctica every fall and returns again in the spring—some 12,000 miles each way!  A shorter journey is the 25—hour 500 mile, nonstop flight of the ruby throated hummingbird.  This 8-ounce wonder flies from the United States over the Gulf of Mexico to Central America.  How can this tiny bird do this?

From various parts of Europe, storks make round-trip flights of 14,000 miles to Israel, the Nile River and South Africa.  The young storks fly a week or two ahead of the parents, although they have never migrated before.  How do they know where to go?

Swallows arrive in Southern California every March after a 6,000-mile flight from Argentina, going to the same nest previously used.  Oriels wintering in South America return in May to their summer homes in the eastern United States after a 2,000-mile flight.

The Tennessee warbler, weighing, about as much as two quarters, flies 3,000 miles each fall from Canada and the northern United States to Central and South America.  Some fly nonstop.  Others take short rests enroute.  Their close relatives, blackpoll warblers, raise their families in Northern Canada and Alaska.  In September, they meet other blackpoll warblers in New England, and then the whole group continues another 2,100 miles on a 100 hour nonstop ocean flight to South America.  By contrast bobolinks in the fall fly almost entirely overland from Canadian prairies to the pampas of Argentina—a 6,000 mile trip.

Golden provers from Alaska fly over the Pacific to Hawaii—a 2,000 mile trip—and, after resting, fly another 2,000 miles south.  Parent birds leave first, leaving the young ones to follow later.  Never having done this before, can anyone explain how the young ones know the way to the Hawaiian Islands?  One thing we do know is that all of these migrations show us the Creator’s care over all His creation, from the smallest part to the greatest.  “Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world” (Acts 15:18).

Many library books will give you much more data than we have space for, but another time we will consider some of the questions we 

asked here. 

(To be continued in Part 3)

Love you all - grandpa

Jewel # 439 (March 15, 2021)

 

And they shall be Mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I 

make up MY JEWELS.”

(Malachi 3:17)

To my dear grandchildren

Birds on the Move

(Part 1)

The winter is past . . . the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come.”  

Song of Solomon 2:11-12

Seasonal migrations are usual fo many animals, fish, butterflies and other creatures, but nothing matches the wonderful migrations of billions of birds.  These migrations take place all over the world twice a year—fall and spring.

It is a wonderful experience to observe a little part of this.  When you are in the country in the fall as the sun is about to set, you might hear the honking of a flock of geese overhead.  Looking up, you see them circling lower and lower, following the leader of their V-formation, until they drop down on a pond or swamp nearby.  They may stay there just overnight or perhaps for sever days, resting and feeding before continuing their long trip from Alaska, the Yukon, or Canada’s Maritime provinces.  They are headed to the warmth of the southern United States or on into Mexico or on even further south, where they will stay through the winter months before returning to the north the following  spring.

Many millions of ducks, swans and other waterfowl make these trips over North America’s flyways, and millions of other birds fly even longer distances than these twice a year.  We have many questions.  Why do they do this?  How do they know where to go?  How do they find their way?  Where do they get the needed strength for such flights?

Bird watchers and trained researchers take such questions seriously and have spent years of research and much money and effort, trying to find the answers.  Although they still understand very little concerning some of the details involved in such massive migrations, they have discovered things that are of interest.  We will borrow from what they have learned to bring some of there findings to our readers in  this and following articles.

However, when all is said and done, there is only One who truly knows all the answers, and that is their Creator.  He is the Lord God, the Creator of the heavens and earth and all things contained therein.  The Bible tells us, “Thou, even Thou, art Lord alone; Thou hast made... the earth, and all things that are therein and Thou preserves them all” (Nehemiah 9:6).

It is claimed that there are about 100 billion birds in the world, and while many make their homes in warm climates and do not migrate, a vast number do.  In North America alone, there are an estimated 10 Billion birds that fly to and from other countries.  Additional billions in Europe and Asia make their flights to other places as well.  We will consider some of these in the following issues.

(to be continued)

Love you all - Grandpa     

Jewel # 438 (March 2, 2021)

 

And they shall be Mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I

make up MY JEWELS.”

Malachi 3:17

To my dear grandchildren

The American Buffalo (Bison)

Part 2 

“From the place of His habitation [heaven] He looks down upon all the inhabitants of the earth.”  (Psalm 33:14)

When people worried about the disappearance of bison from North America over 150 years ago, they persuaded the governments of Canada and the United States to set up protective areas throughout the West, such as Yellowstone National Park and Custer State Park.  Others suggested it would be profitable to raise them like cattle in protected areas. 

These arrangements resulted in a gradual increase in the number of these animals.  Now there are around 500,000 of them in parks and fenced game preserves, like the National Bison Range in Montana, where large herds prosper.

Bison are impressive with their large, shaggy, bearded heads and sharp, curved horns.  When herds are threatened in any way, the males huddle together to form a ring around cows and calves, providing good defence.  God, their wise Creator, gave them this instinct.  In winter, thick, heavy hair grows over the back part of there bodies.  This drops off in springtime, sometimes hanging in loose patches until the animal rubs it off against a tree or big rock.

Calves, weighting about 30 pounds, are born in early summer and can stand up and nurse in half an hour.  At about six weeks old, they begin to change their diet from milk to grass.  This, along with other small plants and twigs from certain trees and shrubs, becomes their entire food supply for the rest of their lives.  They do most of their grazing in the morning; afternoons are spent resting and rolling in the dust to get rid of insects.

When they are angry, bulls charge one another, approaching slowly with heads down, feet pawing the ground raising clouds of dust, tails raised and making loud angry sounds from their open mouths.  They make a very scary sight!    Suddenly they slam their heads together, pushing each other back and forth until one finally gives up.  When the fight is over, the loser walks peacefully away.

The Bible tells us God cares for the beasts of the field.   But He cares much more for all people, who when He created us, were made in His likeness and for whom He has always shown His love.  The greatest proof of His love was at the cross of Calvary where “He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Hm should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16)

Love you all - Grandpa