I know all the birds of the mountains, And the wild beasts of the field are Mine. (Psalms 50:11 NKJV)
After all these months of doing the Sunday Inspirations that have featured the Passerformes Order of birds, we are getting near the end of the list. Known as Passerines or Song Birds, there has been 125 families to tell about and show their pictures. There are seven families left, of which, three of them are small in number, so they are being grouped together in this Sunday Inspiration.
First we have group of birds in an Incertae Sedis or Uncertain Family. “Incertae sedis (Latin for ‘of uncertain placement’) is a term used for a taxonomic group where its broader relationships are unknown or undefined.” (Wikipedia) That means they don’t know into which families to place these birds.
The six birds in this family currently are the Green-tailed Warbler, Yellow-headed Warbler, Oriente Warbler, Wrenthrush, Yellow-breasted Chat, and the White-winged Warbler.
For instance the Wrenthrush (Zeledonia coronata) is neither a wren or a thrush (and unrelated to both). No copyright free photos are available to use other than this drawing. You can see a few photos here.
Bananaquit (Coereba flaveola) Cloud Forest by Lee
The Bananaquit belongs to the Coerebidae family. It is the only member, but there are numerous subspecies. I suspect one day they will split some of them off into separate species in the family. In fact they are suggesting three species already. We saw one down at Zoo Miami’s Cloud Forest.
Snow Bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis) by J Fenton
Our last small family this week is the Calcariidae. There are six members here also. The four Longspurs; Mccown’s, Lapland, Smith’s and Chestnut-collared; and two Buntings, the Snow and McKay’s Bunting.
These are chunky ground-feeding birds with long wings which are usually seen in open areas. Males declare ownership of a territory by singing during short flights over it. The male’s breeding plumage is much brighter than his winter plumage. These birds gather in large flocks in winter. The longspurs are all found in North America; the Lapland Longspur, or Lapland Bunting, is also found in Europe and Asia. (Wikipedia)
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.” (James 2:23 KJV)
“I’ll Be A Friend To Jesus” – Faith Baptist Quartet
“I have heard a rumor from the Lord, and an ambassador is sent unto the heathen, saying, Gather ye together, and come against her, and rise up to the battle.” {Jeremiah 49:14)
By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. (Hebrews 11:7 KJV)
We will continue on with the Birds of the Bible – Foundation series.
(These articles are being updated because they were written back in 2009 and needed a little dusting off. The Truths are the same, just updating the photos, etc.) This article about the Ark is a new one. It needs to go between #4 and #5, but I didn’t want to call it #4.5.
What this Foundation article is about, is the Ark itself. We read about the birds going into and out of the ark in the other Birds of the Bible Foundation articles. But what about the Ark?
How did Noah, his family, the animals and our birds all fit in the ark? Was it like you see depicted many times in drawings with of a small boat with a giraffe sticking his head out?
Giraffe at Lowry Park Zoo by Lee
If it was a small ark, as some suppose, it is because they do not believe God’s Word. God said He was going to destroy all flesh except those on the Ark.
And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die. But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee. And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive. (Genesis 6:17-20 KJV) (emphasis mine)
They don’t believe those verses. They think that it was only a local flood. If it were, why did the birds have to come on board? They could have just flown off to some other part of the earth. So, for those that only believe in a partial flood, a small ark with a giraffe sticking out is sufficient.
But, did those verses not say that “flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh” and “every thing that is in the earth shall die”? Is God a liar? The exception, of course, are those with Noah in the Ark.
And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry. (Genesis 8:13 KJV)
So, we need a big Ark, one that the Giraffes and birds don’t have to hang out the windows. Right? So, how big was the Ark?
“Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch. And this is how you shall make it: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. You shall make a window for the ark, and you shall finish it to a cubit from above; and set the door of the ark in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third decks.” (Genesis 6:14-16 NKJV)
The reason for this article is that, today, there is construction of a life size Ark underway. It is being built by the Answers in Genesis organization. The Ark Encounter, as the location will be known as, is in Williamstown, Kentucky. The planned opening is July 7, 2016. We will be going to Indiana this summer and are planning to visit the Ark during the trip.
Here are two videos showing the ark under construction. They have all those men and great technology. Noah took 120 years. During that time he was preaching and trying to get others to join him and his family.
*
*
I trust those videos will give you a new perspective of how large the Ark actually was. There was even more room for more people to be saved, had they only believed God’s Word. We have the same issue today. John 3:16 is right before our eyes almost daily. Even ball games have banners reminding people of this promise of salvation. If they would only believe.
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (John 3:15-19 KJV)
If I took verse 19 and changed it thus; “And this is the condemnation, that AN ARK WAS come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.“ (John 3:19) (My paraphrase) This is why they didn’t seek to join Noah. That is the same reason sinners refuse to be saved today.
Ian’s Bird of the Week – Red-wattled Lapwing ~ by Ian Montgomery
Newsletter – 4/19/16
While we’re on the subject of Lapwings, here is a rather smart Asian one, the Red-wattled Lapwing, which bears more than a passing resemblance to its close relative the Banded Lapwing of Australia. The Banded Lapwing differs in having a yellow eye-ring and yellow base to the bill, pink legs, and the black and white pattern on the head and neck is different too.
It’s usually found near water, like this one on the Yamuna River which flows through Delhi but is otherwise fairly catholic in its habitat preferences, which include cultivated land and it is quite common in some densely populated areas. Both House Crows and humans like its eggs but in India it has taken to nesting on pebbled roofs and walls instead of on the ground. This probably doesn’t inconvenience the crows too much, but studies have shows that this leads to a spectacular increase in hatching and fledging success. Like all plovers, the chicks are mobile at an early age but don’t fly till much later, so you’d wonder how well they fare running around on rooftops. Maybe they bounce well.
It was originally described from Indian specimens, hence the specific name indicus. In fact it ranges quite widely from Turkey in the west through the southern part of the Middle East to all of southern and southeast Asia. The original type found in India is the nominate race, but three other sub-species are described. I came across the western race aigneri in Dubai a couple of years ago, third photo, when visiting an equestrian park where the main attraction was – no not horses – the Cream-coloured Courser This race has larger and paler than the Indian one, but otherwise rather similar. There is a third race in Sri Lanka and a fourth in southeast Asia which has a white cheek above a completely black collar and is also called the Black-necked Lapwing.
The fourth photo shows a juvenile bird of the western race at the same place. The red wattle is incompletely developed, the crown is brownish and there are pale streaks on the throat. Otherwise, it is quite like the adult.
Many thanks for those of you who responded to my successful call for house-sitters. I’m sorry to have disappointed some suitable applicants, but I’ll keep you in mind for future opportunities.
Where to Find Birds in Northern Queensland: iTunes; Kobo Books
Recorder Society http://www.nqrs.org.au
Lee’s Addition:
“And the stork, the heron after her kind, and the lapwing, and the bat.” (Leviticus 11:19 KJV)
What a great looking bird. I like the clean lines on them and the stately look of that first photo especially. Thanks, Ian, for sharing this beautiful Lapwing with us.
Lapwings are one of the birds in the Bible listed not to eat. These are too pretty and their legs are too skinny. :)
“But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. (James 3:17)
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23 KJV)
Silver-breasted Broadbill (Serilophus lunatus) by Peter Ericsson
“But He knows the way that I take; When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.” (Job 23:10 NKJV)
Now for the last half of the New World Warbler Family. See the first half at Sunday Inspiration – New World Warblers I. The Parulidae family has 119 members presently. The Setophage genus is numerous with 37 species which are seen by many of here in the United States. Many of these had their genus changed from Dendroica to Setophage and some may still refer to them with the older genus name. Sibleyguides has a nice chart showing how they rearranged the taxonomy.
Flavescent Warbler (Myiothlypis flaveolus) by Dario Sanches
The next genus is the Myiothlopis group. The 14 here are best represented in Central and South America. This is one of only two warbler genera that are well represented in the latter continent. All of these species were formerly placed in the genus Basileuterus.
Collared Whitestart (Myioborus torquatus) by Reinier Munguia
The Basileuterus genus still has nine species. Again, they are mainly in the Central and South America areas. These are mainly robust warblers with a stout bill. The majority of species have olive or grey upperparts and yellow underparts. The head is often strikingly marked with a long broad supercilium, a coloured crown or crown stripes, and often other striking head markings.
Many species are not well-studied, but those for which the breeding habits are known all build a domed nest on a bank or on the ground, so this is presumably typical of the genus as a whole.
The Cardellina and the Myioborus (Whitestarts) round out the rest of the family. They have 5 and 12 species respectively. The 12 whitestarts are New World warblers in the genus Myioborus. The English name refers to the white outer tail feathers which are a prominent feature of the members of this genus (“start” is an archaic word for “tail”). They are from mainly northern South America and are spreading north to Central America and the USA. The five Cardellina are from South America. (Info from Wikipedia)
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold In settings of silver. (Proverbs 25:11 NKJV)
“And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operation of his hands. (Isaiah 5:12)
Lee's Birdwatching Adventures Plus 