“But those who wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31)

Learning to wait is a virtue, called patience (Romans 8:25; Galatians 6:9; 1st Corinthians 13:4), and waiting in line is often called “queueing up”. So here are 3 birds to “Q up” our appreciation for avian variety.

QUEEN  CAROLA’S  PAROTIA, also called “Queen Carola’s 6-wired  Bird-of-Paradise”, are endemic (natively populated) only to New Guinea, the largest island in the Indonesian  archipelago.  Parotias are part of the bird-of-paradise family, and like their cousins, they perform histrionic ballet-like dances (called “leks”) upon forest dance-floors (flat areas of forest floor swept clean of loose vegetation and debris).   In such dances the male hops around and bobs his crest-feathered head, like a bobble-head toy, puffing his chest plumage, fluttering his wings, fanning his kilt-like feathers, and other enthusiastic displays of “showing off for the girls”.   

QUAIL are various “galliform” ground-fowl (chicken-like birds), such as bobwhite quail, California quail,  partridges, ptarmigans, and red grouse.   Willow ptarmigans and rock ptarmigans have feather-covered feet and toes, resembling snowshoe rabbits.  Like snowshoe rabbits (with winter “snow” coats and brown summer coats), the Rock Ptarmigan’s white winter plumage camouflages with snow, and its brown summer plumage with wooded areas.

QUETZALS are fancy trogon-birds, sporting flamboyant colors and long streamer-tails.  Latin American jungles and subtropical wet forests are habitats of Pavonine Quetzals, Crested Quetzals, Resplendent Quetzals,  Golden-headed Quetzals, and White-tipped Quetzals. Eared Quetzals live near streams in Mexico’s pine-oak forests and canyons.

17 cheers for “Q”!

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