Last Saturday, at Faith Baptist Church, we had a Free Shopping Day for about 400 less fortunate ones in our community. It was a great day and you can see some of the photos taken by either Pam or Dan and I. Check out the links below to see all the activity. .
Preparations Friday – Dec 11th
Faith Free Shopping Day – Dec 12th
Free Shopping Day Photos – Dec 12th
But most of all, watch the Christmas Presentation that was produced by Sean Fielder and our Pastor Jerry Smith for the visitors.
I thought it would be interesting to find out about what birds Mary and Joseph might have seen on their journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem to register for the census.
And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. (Luke 2:1-5 NKJV)
Laughing Dove (Stigmatopelia senegalensis) by Nikhil
After several hours searching the internet, I still do not have a clear list of the birds in that area. Here, in America, you can find a bird list of about every park or area around. In Jerusalem, 10 kilometers or 6 miles from Bethlehem, I couldn’t find any lists. In Bethlehem, which is now in the West Bank, no list were found. Birds do not care about the political boundaries. The quote below from the Jerusalem Bird Observatory was the best clue obtained. The lists for all the birds of Israel (over 500) can be found, but not for this specific area.
Western Barn Owl (Tyto alba) by Daves BirdingPix
“Moving to central Israel, the Jerusalem region, though more famous for its religious and historical sites, can be interesting for birdwatchers too, with temperate wooded and rocky slopes to the west and the arid Judean Desert to the east. Typical forest birds, many also common in town parks and gardens, include blue jays, Syrian woodpeckers, several types of warblers and doves, song thrushes, assorted shrikes, blackbirds, robins, hoopoes, sunbirds, bulbuls, kestrels, hobbies, chukars and Scops and barn owls. Lovely areas for hiking and birdwatching include the forested mountainous area just south and west of Jerusalem around villages such as Nes Harim, Ora and Sataf, and forested areas further south near the town of Beit Shemesh and the Beit Guvrin archaeological park.
Eurasian Hoopoe (Upupa epops) by Ian
The Jerusalem Bird Observatory (JBO) is located in the landscaped gardens between the Knesset (Israel`s parliament) and the Supreme Court, though you need to bring ID and be patient with security searches. The JBO holds guided birding walks in English every Monday afternoon and does ringing there too. The Israeli capital is also home to prime nesting sites for the endangered lesser kestrel. The Musrara neighbourhood in particular is home to several nests and the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) occasionally arranges walking tours of the area.” From Fatbirder
Chukar Partridge (Alectoris chukar) by Ian
In the list above, the birds bolded, are in the bird families mentioned in the Bible. There are 532 birds listed in the Israel Checklist of which 110 are residents and most of the others are winter visitors, having migrated there from elsewhere. Of the residents, there are 4 Doves – Rock Dove (Rock Pigeon) , Eurasian Collared Dove, Laughing Dove, and the Namaqua Dove. The Eurasian Hoopoe and Barn Owls are also residents. The Quail family includes the Chukar and two other residents, the Black Francolin and the Sand Partridge.
It is realized in over 2,000 years, the birds have changed within their “kinds”, but these photos, may give an indication of what Mary and Joseph may have seen on their journey and in the place where the Lord Jesus Christ was born and lain in a manger.
So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. (Luke 2:6-7 NKJV)
May the Lord bless you during the Christmas celebrations of the Birth of Our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Creator of the world.
The Gospel Message.
Updated 12/17/09
I just updated the Hoatzin’s article “Interesting Birds – Hoatzin”. Two videos were added to show this amazing bird. One is repeated here and both are on the Hoatzin page. To find out more aboat this strange bird that the Lord created – Click Here.
Golden-shouldered Parrot (Psephotus chrysopterygius) by Ian
Newsletter: 12/8/2009
The Hooded Parrot featured as bird of the week at the end September following our encounter with some at Pine Creek in the Northern Territory. This week we have its rarer, and just as beautiful, close relative the Golden-shouldered Parrot of Cape York Peninsula, which we saw last week on our way back from Iron Range. We were shown them coming in to drink at a dam at sunrise by Sue Shephard of Artemis Station south of Musgrave.
Golden-shouldered Parrot (Psephotus chrysopterygius) by Ian
The two species look very similar. Male Golden-shouldered Parrots have narrower black caps, not extending past the eye, a yellowish forehead and, despite their name, a smaller golden patch on the wing. These shoulder patches are very obvious in flight, as in the bird top right in the first photo, and presumably act, along with the turquoise rump, as signals to other members of the species. At about 26cm/10in in length, these are both quite small parrots. Like the extinct, closely related, Paradise Parrot of southeastern Queensland, all three species nest, or nested, in terrestrial termite mounds.
The Golden-shouldered Parrot used to be quite widespread on Cape York Peninsula. It is now found only in two areas: in the Morehead River catchment south of Musgrave (where we saw them) and in Staaten River National Park farther to the southwest. Population estimates range up to 1,000 pairs and the species, classified as endangered, is now the subject of a national recovery plan. The good news is that in the last decade the contraction of the range appears to have stopped and the population stabilized, owing to active conservation measures being taken by the holders of grazing properties in the Morehead River catchment, notably Tom and Sue Shephard of Artemis Station. Staaten River National Park is inaccessible by road, so monitoring and conservation there pose particular challenges.
Links:
Hooded Parrot
Golden-shouldered Parrot Recovery Plan
Best wishes,
Ian
—
Ian Montgomery, Birdway Pty Ltd,
454 Forestry Road, Bluewater, Qld 4818
Phone: +61-7 4751 3115
Preferred Email: ian@birdway.com.au
Website: http://birdway.com.au
Lee’s Addition:
Another neat bird that Ian has captured in photos for us to enjoy. Thanks again, Ian.
He comes from the north as golden splendor; With God is awesome majesty. (Job 37:22 NKJV)
The Golden-shouldered Parrot is in the Psittacidae Family (Parrots) of the Psittaciformes Order (New Zealand Parrots, Cockatoos, and Parrots).
The adult male is mainly blue and has a characteristic yellow over the shoulder area. It has a black cap and pale yellow frontal band. It has a pinkish lower belly, thighs and undertail-coverts. It has a Grey-brown lower back. Adult female are mainly dull greenish-yellow, and have a broad cream bar on the underside of the wings. Juveniles are similar to the adult female. (Wikipedia)
To see more about the Golden-shouldered Parrot:
Nice Video at Internet Bird Collection
By Wikipedia
By Bird Life International
Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater)
December is that busy time of the year when you don’t get to do as much birdwatching as you would like to do. There are so many other things going on and then we had several days where it rained or was overcast. But, all is not lost. There is always the window to look out. Recently we increased the size of the feeding area in our small backyard and now a few birds are coming. Until this month, about all that showed up were the Mourning Doves, the Boat-tailed Grackles, our local Sandhill Crane and of course the Squirrels. In the last few weeks 11 White Ibises, 4 Palm Warblers, our Northern Mockingbird, one Yellow-headed Blackbird and three Red-winged Blackbirds and two Eurasian Collared-Doves came in to check out the feeders. A Red-shouldered Hawk scattered the birds one morning. Today and yesterday, we have had an invasion (75+) of Brown-headed Cowbirds and one Red-winged Blackbird. The problem we have is that our yard is up against a major road and it spooks the birds, so even getting the birds that most people don’t care for is a delight for us. These birds are the ones who like to empty your feeders in “no time flat”.
Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds? (Luke 12:24 NKJV)
Brown-headed Cowbirds
What a promise to the birds and to us. God feeds them most time by the plants and bugs in the fields, but he also uses our feeders and water to supply their needs. The same is true for people who are righteous. The Bible says in Psalms 37:25-28, “I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging bread. He is ever merciful, and lends; And his descendants are blessed. Depart from evil, and do good; And dwell forevermore. For the LORD loves justice, And does not forsake His saints; They are preserved forever, But the descendants of the wicked shall be cut off. (NKJV) The Lord helps His own by seeing they have jobs and their needs met. If times get hard and the job is gone, the Lord will lay it on someones heart to help them out. He has promised to meet our “needs” not our “wants.”
Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) by Quy Tran
So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. (Luke 2:6-7 NKJV)
Words: Unknown author, 12th Century; translated from French to English by an anonymous translator.
Music: Orientis Partibus, medieval French melody
Jesus, our Brother, strong and good,
Was humbly born in a stable rude,
And the friendly beasts around Him stood,
Jesus, our Brother, strong and good.
“I,” said the donkey, shaggy and brown,
“I carried His mother uphill and down,
I carried His mother to Bethlehem town;
I,” said the donkey, shaggy and brown.
“I,” said the cow, all white and red,
“I gave Him my manger for His bed,
I gave Him hay to pillow His head;
I,” said the cow, all white and red.
“I,” said the sheep with curly horn,
“I gave Him my wool for His blanket warm,
He wore my coat on Christmas morn;
I,” said the sheep with curly horn.
“I,” said the dove, from the rafters high,
“I cooed Him to sleep that He should not cry,
We cooed Him to sleep, my mate and I;
I,” said the dove, from the rafters high.
Thus all the beasts, by some good spell,
In the stable dark were glad to tell
Of the gifts they gave Emmanuel,
The gifts they gave Emmanuel.
Donkey - Shaggy and Brown
Most information from The Cyber Hymnal
See ~ Wordless Birds
More ~ Birds in Hymns
*
But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brethren. (Acts 14:2)
Another interesting article from Creation Moments:
“The hooded pitohui is an evil-smelling, blue jay-sized bird that is native to New Guinea. The bird has been known to science since 1827, but they held a secret that only began to be uncovered in 1989.
Hooded Pitohui (Pitohui dichrous) ©Wikipedia
An American graduate student made the discovery while studying another local bird – the bird of paradise. Unfortunately, hooded pitohuis kept getting caught in his nets. As he released the unwanted pitohuis, they would claw and peck at him. After he released the birds, he licked the wounds they had caused. As a result, his mouth began to burn and finally became numb for several hours. This led the graduate student to send dead hooded pitohuis to the National Institutes of Health for further study. The poison they produce was finally identified as one of the most poisonous substances known. It is hundreds of times more poisonous than strychnine. The amount of poison in one bird can kill 500 mice. Most amazing is that only one other creature produces the same poison, the poison dart frog of Central America.
Those who believe in evolution maintain that the ability to produce the poison must have evolved twice. But it’s not that simple. Not only do both bird and frog, half a world apart, have to evolve this unlikely ability twice, but they both had to evolve immunity to their own poison. Ultimately, evolution is a faith. It is a faith that is poisonous to Christianity because it makes death natural rather than a result of the first Adam’s sin. And without the fact of the first Adam, there is no need for the Second Adam, Jesus Christ.
Prayer: Lord, I thank You for Your victory over sin, death and the devil. Amen.”
References: Natural History, 2/94, pp.4 8.
Copyright © 2009 Creation Moments, Inc., PO Box 839, Foley, MN 56329, www.creationmoments.com.
Hooded Pitohui are in the Pachycephalidae – Whistlers and Allies Family in the Passeriformes Order
See AvianWeb.Com’s – Hooded Pitohui
Hooded Pitohui videos by Keith Blomerley
Black-winged Monarch (Monarcha frater) by Ian
From: Ian Montgomery
Newsletter 12/7/2009
Subject: Bird of the Week: Black-winged Monarch
Black-winged Monarch (Monarcha frater) by Ian
If you live on the east coast of Australia, you may be familiar with the very similar Black-faced Monarch. The Black-winged Monarch, distinguishable by paler grey upper parts and contrasting black wings, is, however, a Cape York specialty migrating from PNG in the southern summer to breed along the northeast coast of the Peninsula south to about the McIlwraith Ranges north of Coen.
It’s not a well-known species, and until fairly recently hadn’t been photographed. That, I’m sure, has all changed now with a steady stream of digitally armed birders making the pilgrimage to Lockhart River, where these photos were taken, and the nearby Iron Range National Park. Anyway, I was glad of the opportunity last week to improve on the two mediocre shots on the Birdway website taken on my first visit there almost 6 years ago.
Links:
Black-winged Monarch (the original photos)
Black-faced Monarch
Best wishes,
Ian
—
Ian Montgomery, Birdway Pty Ltd,
454 Forestry Road, Bluewater, Qld 4818
Phone: +61-7 4751 3115
Preferred Email: ian@birdway.com.au
Website: http://birdway.com.au
Lee’s Addition:
When I think of the Monarch, my first thoughts are of a Monarch Butterfly, but the Monarch birds are very interesting. There are 47 Monarchs in Monarchidae Family of the Passeriformes Order. Also included in the family are Paradise and Crested Flycatchers, an Elepaio, Shrikebills, a Silktail, Magpielark, Torrentlark, and the Myiagra genus of Flycatchers. (Total of 93)
Here are some more of Ian’s Photos from the Monarchidae Family:
Broad-billed Flycatcher
Leaden Flycatcher
Shining Flycatcher
Restless Flycatcher
White-eared Monarch
Spectacled Monarch
Magpielark
Frilled Monarch
Pied Monarch
Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches. (Matthew 13:31-32 NKJV)
Black-faced Monarch by Nick Talbot
Also see:
Monarch Flycatchers – Wikipedia
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Matthew 28:19-20 KJV)
Words: Fanny Crosby, 1890. Some hymnals show the author as Julia Sterling, one of Fanny’s pseudonyms.
This inspiring song of farewell to departing missionaries was written in 1890 to Woodbury’s appropriate popular melody by Fanny J. Crosby, at the request of Ira D. Sankey. The key-word and refrain are adapted from the original song by Woodbury (1848), but in substance and language the three hymn-stanzas are the new and independent work of this later writer. Brown, p. 184
Music: Isaac B. Woodbury, 1848
Isaac B. Woodbury (1819-1858)
“Speed Away, Speed Away, on your Mission of Light” was written after hearing the beautiful Indian melody which Mr. Sankey arranged for my words. The original Indian poem told the story of a young maiden who died leaving her father to mourn her untimely loss, and how he was comforted by a message brought him by a bird she had sent from the Happy Hunting Grounds. This melody seemed so beautiful that we thought it ought to have hymn-words and “Speed Away” was the outcome of this feeling. I wrote it hoping that it might inspire someone to go into the mission fields across the sea. Crosby, p. 642
Speed Away
Speed away, speed away, on your mission of light,
To the lands that are lying in darkness and night;
’Tis the Master’s command; go ye forth in His Name,
The wonderful Gospel of Jesus proclaim;
Take your lives in your hand, to the work while ’tis day,
Speed away, speed away, speed away.
Australasian Gannet (Morus serrator) by W Kwong
Speed away, speed away with the life giving Word;
To the nations that know not the voice of the Lord;
Take the wings of the morning and fly o’er the wave,
In the strength of your Master the lost ones to save;
He is calling once more, not at moment’s delay,
Speed away, speed away, speed away.
Speed away, speed away with the message of rest,
To the souls by the tempter in bondage oppressed;
For the Savior has purchased their ransom from sin,
And the banquet is ready, O gather them in;
To the rescue make haste, there’s no time for delay,
Speed away, speed away, speed away.
(A bird not really mentioned but only alluded to a bird.)
Most information from The Cyber Hymnal
See ~ Wordless Birds
More ~ Birds in Hymns
*
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. (James 1:17 KJV)
Words: Fanny Crosby, in Bright Jewels for the Sunday School, by Robert Lowry et al. (New York: Biglow & Main, 1869).
Music: William F. Sherwin
Praise the Giver of All
Let us mingle our voices in chorus today;
The earth is rejoicing, all nature is gay,
And the stream in the valley goes laughing along;
How happy its beautiful song.
Refrain
Praise the Lord, the Giver of all,
Praise the Lord, the Giver of all;
Let His children with rapture His mercy recall,
The bountiful Giver of all.
Large Grey Babbler (Turdoides malcolmi) by Ian
There is joy in the sunbeam that sparkles so bright
And calls the young blossoms to welcome the light;
And the bird in the greenwood is singing with glee,
As cheerful and happy as we.
Refrain
Let us join the glad music and joyfully raise,
In purest devotion, our jubilant praise;
We are grateful to God for this beautiful day:
We’ll sing the bright moments away.
Refrain
Most information from The Cyber Hymnal
See ~ Wordless Birds
More ~ Birds in Hymns
*
Black Guillemot (Cepphus grylle) by Bob-Nan
Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! (Philippians 4:4 NKJV)
Words: Bernhardt S. Ingemann, 1840 (Julen har bragt velsignet bud); translated from Danish to English by Cecil Cowdrey. Music: Christmas Brings Joy, Christoph E. Weyse, 1841
Christmas brings joy to every heart,
Sets old and young rejoicing,
What angels sang once to all on earth,
Oh, hear the children voicing.
Bright is the tree with lights aglow,
Like birds that perch together,
The child that holdeth Christmas dear
Shall keep these joys forever.
Joy comes to the all the world today,
To halls and cottage hasting,
Come, sparrow and dove, from roof tree tall,
And share our Christmas feasting.
Dance, little child, on mother’s knee,
The lovely day is dawning,
The road to paradise is found
The blessèd Christmas morning.
Once to this earth our Savior came,
An infant poor and lowly,
To open for us those gardens fair
Where dwell His angels holy.
Christmas joy He bringeth us,
The Christ child King of Heaven,
To every little child, He saith,
Shall angel wings be given.”
Emerald Dove by Birdway
Most information from The Cyber Hymnal
See ~ Wordless Birds
More ~ Birds in Hymns *
Himalayan Monal (Lophophorus impejanus) by Nikhil Devasar
Well, WordPress has turned on the snow again this year, so even though it is currently 59 degrees here in Central Florida, IT’S SNOWING.
It’s about the only way we get any down here. They turn it on for about a month, so, if it is a bother, it will be gone soon. For those of us who enjoy looking at it, enjoy it.
Have you entered the treasury of snow, Or have you seen the treasury of hail, (Job 38:22 NKJV)
Chinstrap Penguin (Pygoscelis antarcticus) by Bob-Nan
Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the LORD, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool. (Isaiah 1:18 NKJV)
Cardinal by Aestheticphotos
Lee's Birdwatching Adventures Plus 