Even the stork in the sky Knows her seasons; And the turtledove and the swift and the thrush Observe the time of their migration; But My people do not know The ordinance of the LORD. (Jeremiah 8:7 NASB)
The Thrush only appears once in the Bible. Not all versions of the Scripture translates or says that it is a Thrush. The New American Standard Bible (NASB) is one of the ones that does. Also the CEV, ERV, GNB, HRB, LITV and the NIV use the word “Thrush”.
Here is a little Greek study for you:
The Greek word (the OT was written mostly in Greek) gives the word (H5693) עגוּר -or –‛âgûr (aw-goor’)
An unused root meaning to twitter; probably the swallow: – swallow.
Many of the different Bibles use the word Swallow, and some of those above use both the Swallow and the Thrush.
White-necked Thrush (Turdus albicollis) by Dario Sanches
Both birds migrate and both “twitter.”
Listen to the song of the Wood Thrush and see if you can detect a “twitter” in its voice:
Wood Thrush (Hylocichla mustelina) by Daves BirdingPix
Thrushes are plump, soft-plumaged, small to medium-sized birds, inhabiting wooded areas, and are grey or brown in colour, often with speckled underparts.
They often feed on the ground or eat small fruit, but most species also eat worms, land snails, and fruit. Many species are permanently resident in warm climes, while others migrate to higher latitudes during summer, often over considerable distances.
The songs of some species, including members of the genera Catharus, Myadestes, and Turdus, are considered to be among the most beautiful in the avian world. (Wikipedia and other internet sources)
Our verse above mentions the birds and how they KNOW when it is time to migrate, but what about the end of the verse? The Lord uses birds and other critters as an example, BUT He is mainly trying to teach us something.
Let’s see what some of the different versions say about what we are supposed to learn from these birds.
(HCSB) “are aware of their migration, but My people do not know the requirements of the LORD.”
(MSG) …know when it’s time to move south for winter… know when it’s time to come back again. But my people? My people know nothing, not the first thing of GOD and his rule.
(NET) …knows when it is time to move on…recognize the normal times for their migration. But my people pay no attention to what I, the LORD, require of them.
Do you know what the Lord wants you to do? Do you know Him as your Savior? If you do, are you doing what the Bible tells us we should do? Are you obeying your parents? And many other things.
The Lord loves us, just as your parents do. When you obey them aren’t you more pleased and blessed than when you don’t obey? The same is true with obeying the Word that the Lord has given us through His Word, the Bible.
Even the stork in the sky Knows her seasons; And the turtledove and the swift and the thrush Observe the time of their migration; But My people do not know The ordinance of the LORD. (Jeremiah 8:7 NASB)
Cranes know when it’s time to move south for winter. And robins, warblers, and bluebirds know when it’s time to come back again. But my people? My people know nothing, not the first thing of GOD and his rule. (Jeremiah 8:7 MSG)
The Cranepage of the Bible Birds has been updated. I added a Gallery of most of the Cranes and some other information. Cranes are interesting and we get to see them quite often. We have two that walk through the yard almost daily. They are Sandhill Cranes. When they have young, they have been known to parade them through the yard to “show them off.”
The tallest Crane I have seen were the two Sarus Cranes which we encountered at the Wings of Asia Aviary at Zoo Miami. They came strolling down the walkway in the aviary right past me. I am only 4′ 10″ and they are 5′ 6″. Needless to say, I had to look up to them. I also gave them some space.
Isn’t the Creator fantastic in the variety of critters, especially the birds, that He has made and for us to enjoy.
Sarus Crane (Grus antigone) by Lee at Wings of Asia
What an amazing animal! God did some very special engineering from the git-go! None of this “grocery store” new and improved nonsense. He got it entirely right the first time.
The Amazing Camel and It’s Creator
(From Moody Press)
If you ever doubted that God exists, Meet the Very Technical, Highly Engineered Dromedary Camel.
When I’m hungry, I’ll eat almost anything-A leather bridle, a piece of rope, my master’s tent, Or a pair of shoes.
My mouth is so tough a thorny cactus doesn’t bother it. I love to chow down grass and other plants That grow here on the Arabian desert.
I’m a dromedary camel, the one-hump kind That lives on hot deserts in the Middle East.
My hump, all eighty pounds of it, Is filled with fat-my body fuel-not water as some people believe. My Mighty Maker gave it to me because He knew I wouldn’t always be able to find food As I travel across the hot sands. When I don’t find any chow, my body automatically Takes fat from the hump, feeds my system, And keeps me going strong. This is my emergency food supply.
If I can’t find any plants to munch, my body uses up my hump. When the hump gets smaller, it starts to tip to one side. But when I get to a nice oasis and begin to eat again, My hump soon builds back to normal.
I’ve been known to drink twenty-seven gallons of water in ten minutes. My Master Designer made me in such a fantastic way that In a matter of minutes all the water I’ve swallowed Travels to the billions of microscopic cells that make up my flesh.
Naturally, the water I swallow first goes into my stomach. There thirsty blood vessels absorb and carry it to every part of my body. Scientists have tested my stomach and found it empty Ten minutes after I’ve drunk twenty gallons.
In an eight hour day I can carry a four hundred pound load A hundred miles across a hot, dry desert And not stop once for a drink or something to eat. In fact, I’ve been known to go eight days without a drink, But then I look a wreck. I lose 227 pounds, my ribs show through my skin, And I look terribly skinny. But I feel great! I look thin because the billions of cells lose their water. They’re no longer fat. They’re flat.
Normally my blood contains 94 percent water, just like yours. But when I can’t find any water to drink, The heat of the sun gradually robs a little water out of my blood. Scientists have found that my blood can lose up to 40 percent of its water, and I’m still healthy.
Doctor’s say human blood has to stay very close to 94 percent water. If you lose 5 percent of it, you can’t see anymore; 10 percent, you can’t Hear and you go insane; 12 percent, your blood is as thick as molasses And your heart can’t pump the thick stuff. It stops, and you’re dead.
But that’s not true with me. Why? Scientists say my blood is different. My red cells are elongated. Yours are round. Maybe that’s what makes the difference.
This proves I’m designed for the desert, Or the desert is designed for me. Did you ever hear of a design without a Designer?
After I find a water hole, I’ll drink for about ten minutes And my skinny body starts to change almost immediately. In that short time my body fills out nicely, I don’t look skinny anymore, And I gain back the 227 pounds I lost.
Even though I lose a lot of water on the desert, My body conserves it too. Way in the beginning when my intelligent Engineer made me, He gave me a specially designed nose that saves water. When I exhale, I don’t lose much. My nose traps that warm, moist air from my lungs And absorbs it in my nasal membranes.
Tiny blood vessels in those membranes take that back into my blood. How’s that for a recycling system? Pretty cool, isn’t it. It works because my nose is cool. My cool nose changes that warm moisture in the air From my lungs into water.
But how does my nose get cool? I breath in hot dry desert air, And it goes through my wet nasal passages. This produces a cooling effect, and my nose stays as much as 18 degrees cooler than the rest of my body.
I love to travel the beautiful sand dunes. It’s really quite easy, because My Creator gave me specially engineered sand shoes for feet. My hooves are wide, and they get even wider when I step on them. Each foot has two long, bony toes with tough, leathery skin between my soles, are a little like webbed feet.
They won’t let me sink into the soft, drifting sand. This is good, because often my master wants me to carry him one hundred miles across the desert in just one day. (I troop about ten miles per hour.)
Sometimes a big windstorm comes out of nowhere, bringing flying sand with it. My Master Designer put special muscles in my nostrils that close the openings, keeping sand out of my nose but still allowing me enough air to breathe.
My eyelashes arch down over my eyes like screens, keeping the sand and sun out but still letting me see clearly. If a grain of sand slips through and gets in my eye, the Creator took care of that too. He gave me an inner eyelid that automatically wipes the sand off my eyeball just like a windshield wiper.
Some people think I’m conceited because I always walk around with my head held high and my nose in the air.
But that’s just because of the way I’m made. My eyebrows are so thick and bushy I have to hold my head high to peek out from underneath them. I’m glad I have them though. They shade my eyes from the bright sun.
Desert people depend on me for many things. Not only am I their best form of transportation, but I’m also their grocery store. Mrs. Camel gives very rich milk that people make into butter and cheese. I shed my thick fur coat once a year, and that can be woven into cloth. A few young camels are used for beef, but I don’t like to talk about that.
For a long time we camels have been called the “ships of the desert” because of the way we sway from side to side when we trot. Some of our riders get seasick.
I sway from side to side because of the way my legs work. Both legs on one side move forward at the same time, elevating that side. My “left, right left, right” motion makes my rider feel like he is in a rocking chair going sideways.
When I was six months old, special knee pads started to grow on my front legs. The intelligent Creator knew I had to have them. They help me lower my 1000 pounds to the ground.
If I didn’t have them, my knees would soon become sore and infected, and I could never lie down. I’d die of exhaustion.
By the way, I don’t get thick knee pads because I fall on my knees. I fall on my knees because I already have these tough pads. Someone very great thought of me and knew I needed them. He designed them into my genes.
It’s real difficult for me to understand how some people say I evolved into what I now am. I’m very technical, highly engineered dromedary camel. Things like me don’t just happen.
They’re planned on a drawing board by Someone very brilliant, Someone very logical.
John 1:1 says,
“In the beginning was the Word.
And the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.”
The Word means “logical, intelligent One.”
(Received in an e-Mail, but found it on the Lakeside Church of Christ website. Not sure who to give the credit to. Could not find it on the Moody site. We do know the ultimate credit goes to – The Creator.)
As many of you know I have just gone through eye surgery this last Thursday. (Prayer for Eye Surgery) Today, Monday, I am getting clearer vision daily, but my activities are still limited. I was able to attend church last evening and even went out afterwards with our friends. The Doctor said it was “his easiest surgery of the day and every thing went just like it should.” (I was his last patient) also told me I was his “best patient of the day.” When he walk out I told the nurses that were with me that he probably tell all his patients that. They told me that they had never heard him say that to anyone.
I told you all of that to thank you for your prayers for my Doctor and for my nervousness. Both were answered mightily. The Lord helped direct his hand and since I had to be awake, helped me stay still. They can’t put you out because you must have your eyes open. My eye was numbed, but I saw part of what was going on.
Well, guess where my mind went yesterday? I started wondering how many times “eye” and some “bird” showed up in the same verse. With enlarged type, my search found around 20 verses. Some of my upcoming Bible Bird blogs will investigate these verses. Have you ever searched your Bible to find out about a certain word or words? There are over 600 verses which have “Eye” in it. I enjoy using my “e-Sword” search and compare modes. Makes for some interesting topics to study from God’s Word.
In fact, some articles that have already been written on the main blog. (These are just a few of them)
Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven. (Proverbs 23:5 KJV)
There are more and will be covered later.
Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings, (Psalms 17:8 KJV)
Interesting verses, but not directly related to birds:
He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see? (Psalms 94:9 KJV) (Our Creator)
The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the LORD hath made even both of them. (Proverbs 20:12 KJV)
Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. (Psalms 119:18 KJV)
I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye. (Psalms 32:8 KJV) (How?)
Again, thank you for your prayers. I still have several weeks of recovery ahead of me, so please remember me in your prayers as you think about it. Prayer is felt when it is being answered.
The honeysuckles were beginning to bud. Already the humming-birds were hovering near and had built a nest right in the heart of the vine. This vine was in a nice old-fashioned garden, but near by there was a vacant lot which was very swampy.
“You know the garden by the vacant lot?” began daddy.
“Yes,” replied both children, “are you going to tell us a story about that garden?”
“I am going to tell you,” said daddy, “about the mother humming-bird whose little ones were attacked by a cruel snake when they were rescued by the brave robins.
“The snake had come over from the vacant field and had crawled up the honeysuckle vine as the mother humming-bird had gone off for some food. Some robins hovering near had seen the awful snake. They had cried out in terror and had flown over to the nest.
“The mother humming-bird heard the cries and hurried back, but the robins had frightened off the snake. The snake was not a very large one, and really he had been frightened by all the noise the robins had made, and when he saw so many birds flying toward him he got away very quickly.
“The mother humming-bird got back just as the snake was leaving the nest.
“She couldn’t thank the robins enough for flying to the rescue and saving her beloved little ones, but the robins didn’t want any thanks. They were thankful, too, that the dear little birds had been saved, for birds are very loyal to one another and will risk any danger to save each other.”
“I am so glad,” said Evelyn, “that the little humming-birds were saved, for I love to see them having such a good time in the honeysuckle vines, and the more there are of them the nicer it makes the summer seem.”
“It was brave of the robins to come to the rescue, though, wasn’t it, daddy?”
“Indeed it was,” said daddy; “but almost all animals and birds will do anything they can to help one another, and they seem to forget that there is such a thing as being afraid if they see any creature in danger or distress.
“After the mother humming-bird had recovered from the awful fright, and after the little ones had shown that they were perfectly well and strong, with no ill effects from their fright, the mother humming-bird invited the robins to partake of the delicious meal she had succeeded in getting before the cries came from the robins.”
“THE MOTHER HUMMING-BIRD HURRIED BACK.”
Lee’s Addition:
Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble. (Pro 3:23)
Did the Robin brag about what they did? No. Was the Humming-bird thankful? Yes. Were they friends, yes. What can we learn from this story?
We should be willing to watch out for our friends and we should not forget to appreciate and thank those who do things for us. Also, the Lord said that He knows about the birds (Sparrows) and cares about them and us. The Lord cares more about you than the birds.
Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows. (Luk 12:6-7)
Whither, ’midst falling dew
While glow the heavens with the last steps of day,
Far through their rosy depths dost thou pursue
Thy solitary way?
Vainly the fowler’s eye
Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong,
As, darkly painted on the crimson sky,
Thy figure floats along.
Seek’st thou the plashy brink
Of weedy lake, or marge of river wide,
Or where the rocky billows rise and sink
On the chafed ocean side.
There is a Power whose care
Teaches thy way along that pathless coast—
The desert and illimitable air—
Lone wandering, but not lost.
All day thy wings have fanned,
At that far height, the cold thin atmosphere,
Yet stoop not, weary, to the welcome land
Though the dark night is near.
And soon that toil shall end;
Soon shalt thou find a summer home, and nest,
And scream among thy fellows; reeds shall bend,
Soon o’er thy sheltered nest.
Thou’rt gone, the abyss of heaven
Hath swallowed up thy form; yet on my heart
Deeply has sunk the lesson thou hast given,
And shall not soon depart.
He who from zone to zone,
Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight,
In the long way that I must tread alone,
Will lead my steps aright.
William Cullen Bryant.
Cape Barren Goose (Cereopsis novaehollandiae) by Ian
Lee’s Addition:
Storks know when to fly south. So do doves, swifts and thrushes. But my people do not know what I require them to do. (Jeremiah 8:7 NIrV)
“But now ask the beasts, and they will teach you; And the birds of the air, and they will tell you; (Job 12:7 NKJV)
Wikipedia say this of Waterfowl They “are certain wildfowl of the order Anseriformes, especially members of the family Anatidae, which includes ducks, geese, and swans.
They are strong swimmers with medium to large bodies. They have historically been an important food source, and continue to be hunted as game, or raised as poultry for meat and eggs. The domestic duck is sometimes kept as a pet.
Some definitions of the term ‘waterfowl’ include the saltwater shorebirds or waders, gulls, pelicans, and herons, as well as seabirds such as the albatross, but ‘fowl’ especially refers to birds used by humans for game.
The above article is the first article in the monthly serial that was started in January 1897 “designed to promote Knowledge of Bird-Live.” These include Color Photography, as they call them, today they are drawings. There are at least three Volumes that have been digitized by Project Gutenberg.
This bird is found mostly in the southern states. Here he is known by the more common name of Turkey Buzzard.
He looks like a noble bird but he isn’t. While he is well fitted for flying, and might, if he tried, catch his prey, he prefers to eat dead animals.
The people down south never think of burying a dead horse or cow. They just drag it out away from their homes and leave it to the Vultures who are sure to dispose of it.
It is very seldom that they attack a live animal.
They will even visit the streets of the cities in search of dead animals for food, and do not show much fear of man. Oftentimes they are found among the chickens and ducks in the barn-yard, but have never been known to kill any.
One gentleman who has studied the habits of the Vulture says that it has been known to suck the eggs of Herons. This is not common, though. As I said they prefer dead animals for their food and even eat their own dead.
The Vulture is very graceful while on the wing. He sails along and you can hardly see his wings move as he circles about looking for food on the ground below.
Many people think the Vulture looks much like our tame turkey.
If you know of a turkey near by, just compare this picture with it and you won’t think so.
See how chalk-white his bill is. No feathers on his head, but a bright red skin.
What do you think of the young chick? It doesn’t seem as though he could ever be the large, heavy bird his parent seems to be.
Now turn back to the first page of July “Birds” and see how he differs from the Eagle.
THE TURKEY VULTURE
From col. F. M. Woodruff.
THE TURKEY VULTURE.
URKEY BUZZARD is the familiar name applied to this bird, on account of his remarkable resemblance to our common Turkey. This is the only respect however, in which they are alike. It inhabits the United States and British Provinces from the Atlantic to the Pacific, south through Central and most of South America. Every farmer knows it to be an industrious scavenger, devouring at all times the putrid or decomposing flesh of carcasses. They are found in flocks, not only flying and feeding in company, but resorting to the same spot to roost; nesting also in communities; depositing their eggs on the ground, on rocks, or in hollow logs and stumps, usually in thick woods or in a sycamore grove, in the bend or fork of a stream. The nest is frequently built in a tree, or in the cavity of a sycamore stump, though a favorite place for depositing the eggs is a little depression under a small bush or overhanging rock on a steep hillside.
Renowned naturalists have long argued that the Vulture does not have an extraordinary power of smell, but, according to Mr. Davie, an excellent authority, it has been proven by the most satisfactory experiments that the Turkey Buzzard does possess a keen sense of smell by which it can distinguish the odor of flesh at a great distance.
The flight of the Turkey Vulture is truly beautiful, and no landscape with its patches of green woods and grassy fields, is perfect without its dignified figure high in the air, moving round in circles, steady, graceful and easy, and apparently without effort. “It sails,” says Dr. Brewer, “with a steady, even motion, with wings just above the horizontal position, with their tips slightly raised, rises from the ground with a single bound, gives a few flaps of the wings, and then proceeds with its peculiar soaring flight, rising very high in the air.”
The Vulture pictured in the accompanying plate was obtained between the Brazos river and Matagorda bay. With it was found the Black Vulture, both nesting upon the ground. As the nearest trees were thirty or forty miles distant these Vultures were always found in this situation. The birds selected an open spot beneath a heavy growth of bushes, placing the eggs upon the bare ground. The old bird when approached would not attempt to leave the nest, and in the case of the young bird in the plate, the female to protect it from harm, promptly disgorged the putrid contents of her stomach, which was so offensive that the intruder had to close his nostrils with one hand while he reached for the young bird with the other.
The Turkey Vulture is a very silent bird, only uttering a hiss of defiance or warning to its neighbors when feeding, or a low gutteral croak of alarm when flying low overhead.
The services of the Vultures as scavengers in removing offal render them valuable, and almost a necessity in southern cities. If an animal is killed and left exposed to view, the bird is sure to find out the spot in a very short time, and to make its appearance as if called by some magic spell from the empty air.
“Never stoops the soaring Vulture
On his quarry in the desert,
On the sick or wounded bison,
But another Vulture, watching,
From his high aerial lookout,
Sees the downward plunge and follows;
And a third pursues the second,
Coming from the invisible ether,
First a speck, and then a Vulture,
Till the air is dark with pinions.”
Summary:
TURKEY VULTURE.—Catharista Atrata.
Range—Temperate America, from New Jersey southward to Patagonia.
Nest—In hollow stump or log, or on ground beneath bushes or palmettos.
Eggs—One to three; dull white, spotted and blotched with chocolate marking.
Turkey Vulture flying by – LPP
Lee’s Addition:
There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture’s eye hath not seen: (Job 28:7 KJV)
We see Turkey and Black Vulture quite frequently here. I only disagree with one part of the article. “The Vulture is very graceful while on the wing. He sails along and you can hardly see his wings move as he circles about looking for food on the ground below.”
The way I distinguish the Turkey and Black Vultures apart is that the Black (BV) is steady on the wing, but the Turkey TV) is wobbly on the wing. They have a rocking motion, even when it is not windy. Another way to tell the two apart is the V of the Turkey and the flatter wings of the Black, who also has white on the tips of their wings.
The above article is the first article in the monthly serial that was started in January 1897 “designed to promote Knowledge of Bird-Live.” These include Color Photography, as they call them, today they are drawings. There are at least three Volumes that have been digitized by Project Gutenberg.
The Evening Grosbeak by Birds Illustrated by Bird Photography, 1897
THE EVENING GROSBEAK.
ANDSOMER birds there may be, but in the opinion of many this visitant to various portions of western North America is in shape, color, and markings one of the most exquisite of the feather-wearers. It has for its habitation the region extending from the plains to the Pacific ocean and from Mexico into British America. Toward the North it ranges further to the east; so that, while it appears to be not uncommon about Lake Superior, it has been reported as occuring in Ohio, New York, and Canada. In Illinois it was observed at Freeport during the winter of 1870 and 1871, and at Waukegan during January, 1873. It is a common resident of the forests of the State of Washington, and also of Oregon. In the latter region Dr. Merrill observed the birds carrying building material to a huge fir tree, but was unable to locate the nest, and the tree was practically inaccessable. Mr. Walter E. Bryant was the first to record an authentic nest and eggs of the Evening Grosbeak. In a paper read before the California Academy of Sciences he describes a nest of this species containing four eggs, found in Yolo county, California. The nest was built in a small live oak, at a height of ten feet, and was composed of small twigs supporting a thin layer of fibrous bark and a lining of horse hair. The eggs are of a clear greenish-ground color, blotched with pale brown. According to Mr. Davie, one of the leading authorities on North American birds, little if any more information has been obtained regarding the nests and eggs of the Evening Grosbeak.
As to its habits, Mr. O. P. Day says, that about the year 1872, while hunting during fine autumn weather in the woods about Eureka, Illinois, he fell in with a number of these Grosbeaks. They were feeding in the tree tops on the seeds of the sugar maple, just then ripening, and were excessively fat. They were very unsuspicious, and for a long time suffered him to observe them. They also ate the buds of the cottonwood tree in company with the Rose-Breasted Grosbeak.
The song of the Grosbeak is singularly like that of the Robin, and to one not thoroughly familiar with the notes of the latter a difference would not at first be detected. There is a very decided difference, however, and by repeatedly listening to both species in full voice it will be discovered more and more clearly. The sweet and gentle strains of music harmonize delightfully, and the concert they make is well worth the careful attention of the discriminating student. The value of such study will be admitted by all who know how little is known of the songsters. A gentleman recently said to us that one day in November the greater part of the football field at the south end of Lincoln Park was covered with Snow Birds. There were also on the field more than one hundred grammar and high school boys waiting the arrival of the football team. There was only one person present who paid any attention to the birds which were picking up the food, twittering, hopping, and flying about, and occasionally indulging in fights, and all utterly oblivious of the fact that there were scores of shouting school boys around and about them. The gentleman called the attention of one after another of ten of the high school boys to the snow birds and asked what they were. They one and all declared they were English Sparrows, and seemed astounded that any one could be so ignorant as not to know what an English Sparrow was. So much for the city-bred boy’s observation of birds.
Evening Grosbeak (Hesperiphona vespertina) male by Raymond Barlow
THE EVENING GROSBEAK.
In the far Northwest we find this beautiful bird the year around. During the winter he often comes farther south in company with his cousin, the Rose-Breasted Grosbeak.
What a beautiful sight it must be to see a flock of these birds—Evening Grosbeaks and Rose-Breasted in their pretty plumage.
Grosbeaks belong to a family called Finches. The Sparrows, Buntings, and Crossbills belong to the same family. It is the largest family among birds.
You will notice that they all have stout bills. Their food is mostly grains and their bills are well formed to crush the seeds.
Look at your back numbers of “Birds” and notice the pictures of the other Finches I have named. Don’t you think Dame Nature is very generous with her colors sometimes?
Only a few days ago while strolling through the woods with my field glass, I saw a pretty sight. On one tree I saw a Redheaded Woodpecker, a Flicker, an Indigo Bunting, and a Rose-Breasted Grosbeak. I thought then, if we could only have the Evening Grosbeak our group of colors would be complete.
Have you ever wondered at some birds being so prettily dressed while others have such dull colors?
Some people say that the birds who do not sing must have bright feathers to make them attractive. We cannot believe this. Some of our bright colored birds are sweet singers, and surely many of our dull colored birds cannot sing very well.
Next month you will see the pictures of several home birds. See if dull colors have anything to do with sweet song.
Lee’s Addition:
Evening Grosbeak (Hesperiphona vespertina) female by Raymond Barlow
By awesome deeds you answer us with righteousness, O God of our salvation, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas; the one who by his strength established the mountains, being girded with might; who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, the tumult of the peoples, so that those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at your signs. You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy. (Psalms 65:5-8 ESV)
What a beautiful bird the Lord created in the Evening Grosbeak. The Grosbeaks are in the Cardinalidae – Grosbeaks, Saltators & Allies Family. There are 17 Grosbeaks in the family and are found in 9 genera. The Evening Grosbeak is in the
The Evening Grosbeak (Coccothraustes vespertinus) is a large finch. In the past, it was treated in a genus of its own as Hesperiphona vespertina, but is now usually placed in the same genus as the Hawfinch of Eurasia.
The breeding habitat is coniferous and mixed forest across Canada and the western mountainous areas of the United States and Mexico. It is an extremely rare vagrant to the British Isles, with just two records so far. The nest is built on a horizontal branch or in a fork of a tree.
The migration of this bird is variable; in some winters, it may wander as far south as the southern U.S.
The Evening Grosbeak is similar in appearance to the Eurasian Hawfinch, both being bulky, heavily built finches with large bills and short tails. The Evening Grosbeak ranges in length from 6.3 to 8.7 in (16 to 22 cm) in length and spans 12 to 14 in (30 to 36 cm) across the wings. In a large sampling of grosbeaks in Pennsylvania during winter, males weighed from 1.37 to 3.04 oz (38.7 to 86.1 g), with an average of 2.1 oz (60 g), while females weighed from 1.52 to 2.59 oz (43.2 to 73.5 g), with an average of 2.07 oz (58.7 g). The adult has a short black tail, black wings and a large pale bill. The adult male has a bright yellow forehead and body; its head is brown and there is a large white patch in the wing. The adult female is mainly olive-brown, greyer on the underparts and with white patches in the wings.
These birds forage in trees and bushes, sometimes on the ground. They mainly eat seeds, berries and insects. Outside of the nesting season they often feed in flocks. Sometimes, they will swallow fine gravel.
The range of this bird has expanded far to the east in historical times, possibly due to plantings of Manitoba maples and other maples and shrubs around farms and the availability of bird feeders in winter.
“Calls from a large flock visiting a feeder” – from xeno-canto
The above article is the first article in the monthly serial that was started in January 1897 “designed to promote Knowledge of Bird-Live.” These include Color Photography, as they call them, today they are drawings. There are at least three Volumes that have been digitized by Project Gutenberg.
Wilson’s Phalarope for Birds Illustrated by Color Photography
WILSON’S PHALAROPE.
ERHAPS the most interesting, as it is certainly the most uncommon, characteristic of this species of birds is that the male relieves his mate from all domestic duties except the laying of the eggs. He usually chooses a thin tuft of grass on a level spot, but often in an open place concealed by only a few straggling blades. He scratches a shallow depression in the soft earth, lines it with a thin layer of fragments of old grass blades, upon which the eggs, three or four, are laid about the last of May or first of June. Owing to the low situation in which the nest is placed, the first set of eggs are often destroyed by a heavy fall of rain causing the water to rise so as to submerge the nest. The instinct of self preservation in these birds, as in many others, seems lacking in this respect. A second set, numbering two or three, is often deposited in a depression scratched in the ground, as at first, but with no sign of any lining.
Wilson’s Phalarope is exclusively an American bird, more common in the interior than along the sea coast. The older ornithologists knew little of it. It is now known to breed in northern Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, the Dakotas, Utah, and Oregon. It is recorded as a summer resident in northern Indiana and in western Kansas. Mr. E. W. Nelson states that it is the most common species in northern Illinois, frequenting grassy marshes and low prairies, and is not exceeded in numbers even by the ever-present Spotted Sandpiper. While it was one of our most common birds in the Calumet region it is now becoming scarce.
The adult female of this beautiful species is by far the handsomest of the small waders. The breeding plumage is much brighter and richer than that of the male, another peculiar characteristic, and the male alone possesses the naked abdomen. The female always remains near the nest while he is sitting, and shows great solicitude upon the approach of an intruder. The adults assume the winter plumage during July.
Wilson’s Phalarope (Phalaropus tricolor) by J Fenton
Lee’s Addition:
Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him. (Genesis 2:19-20 NKJV)
What another fantastically created bird. The Phalaropes belong to the Scolopacidae – Sandpipers, Snipes family. There are 96 species in the family, with 3 of those in the Phalaropus genus; the Wilson’s, Red-necked and Red Phalaropes. Phalarope are sometimes called “wadepipers.” They are especially notable for two things: their unusual nesting behavior (see above), and their unique feeding technique. When feeding, a phalarope will often swim in a small, rapid circle, forming a small whirlpool. This behavior is thought to aid feeding by raising food from the bottom of shallow water. The bird will reach into the center of the vortex with its bill, plucking small insects or crustaceans caught up therein.
The Wilson’s Phalarope, Phalaropus tricolor, is a small wader. This bird, the largest of the phalaropes, breeds in the prairies of North America in western Canada and the western United States. It is migratory, wintering around the central Andes in South America. They are passage migrants through Central America around March/April and again during September/October. The species is a rare vagrant to western Europe.
This species is often very tame and approachable. Its common name commemorates the American ornithologist Alexander Wilson. Sometimes, it is placed in a monotypic genus Steganopus.
Wilson’s Phalarope (Phalaropus tricolor) by Daves BirdingPix
Wilson’s Phalarope is slightly larger than the Red Phalarope at about 9.1 in (23 cm) in length. As are all 3 phalaropes, it is a unique, dainty shorebird with lobed toes and a straight fine black bill. The breeding female is predominantly gray and brown above, with white underparts, a reddish neck and reddish flank patches. The breeding male is a duller version of the female, with a brown back, and the reddish patches reduced or absent. In a study of breeding phalaropes in Saskatchewan Providence in Canada, females were found to average around 10% larger in standard measurements and to weigh around 30% more than the males. Females weighed from 68 to 79 g (2.4 to 2.8 oz), whereas the males average 1.83 oz (51.8 g).
Young birds are grey and brown above, with whitish underparts and a dark patch through the eye. In winter, the plumage is essentially grey above and white below, but the dark eyepatch is always present.
The above article is the first article in the monthly serial that was started in January 1897 “designed to promote Knowledge of Bird-Live.” These include Color Photography, as they call them, today they are drawings. There are at least three Volumes that have been digitized by Project Gutenberg.
The Skylark – Birds Illustrated by Color Photography
From col. F. M. Woodruff.
THE SKYLARK.
This is not an American bird. I have allowed his picture to be taken and placed here because so many of our English friends desired it.
The skylark is probably the most noted of birds in Europe. He is found in all of the countries of Europe, but England seems to claim it. Here it stays during the summer, and goes south in the winter.
Like our own Meadow Lark, he likes best to stay in the fields. Here you will find it when not on the wing.
Early in the spring the Skylark begins his song, and he may be heard for most of the year.
Sometimes he sings while on the ground, but usually it is while he is soaring far above us.
Skylarks do not often seek the company of persons. There are some birds, you know, that seem happy only when they are near people. Of course, they are somewhat shy, but as a rule they prefer to be near people. While the Skylark does not seek to be near persons, yet it is not afraid of them.
A gentleman, while riding through the country, was surprised to see a Skylark perch on his saddle. When he tried to touch it, the Lark moved along on the horse’s back, and finally dropped under the horse’s feet. Here it seemed to hide. The rider, looking up, saw a hawk flying about. This explained the cause of the skylark’s strange actions.
A pair of these Larks had built their nest in a meadow. When the time came for mowing the grass, the little ones were not large enough to leave the nest. The mother bird laid herself flat on the ground, with her wings spread out. The father bird took one of the little ones from the nest and placed it on the mother’s back. She flew away, took the baby bird to a safe place, and came back for another.
This time the father took his turn. In this way they carried the little ones to a safe place before the mowers came.
Like our Meadow Lark, the Skylark builds her nest on the ground—never in bushes or trees. Usually it is built in a hole below the surface of the ground. It is for this reason that it is hard to find.
Then, too, the color of the nest is much like that of the ground.
Four or five eggs are usually laid, and in two weeks the little larks crack the shells, and come into the world crying for worms and bugs.
Eurasian Skylark (Alauda arvensis) by Ian
THE SKYLARK.
HE English Skylark has been more celebrated in poetry than any other song-bird. Shelley’s famous poem is too long to quote and too symmetrical to present in fragmentary form. It is almost as musical as the sweet singer itself.
“By the first streak of dawn,” says one familiar with the Skylark, “he bounds from the dripping herbage, and on fluttering wings mounts the air for a few feet ere giving forth his cheery notes. Then upward, apparently without effort he sails, sometimes drifting far away as he ascends, borne as it were by the ascending vapors, so easily he mounts the air. His notes are so pure and sweet, and yet so loud and varied withal, that when they first disturb the air of early morning all the other little feathered tenants of the fields and hedgerows seem irresistibly compelled to join him in filling the air with melody. Upwards, ever upwards, he mounts, until like a speck in the highest ether he appears motionless; yet still his notes are heard, lovely in their faintness, now gradually growing louder and louder as he descends, until within a few yards of the earth they cease, and he drops like a fragment hurled from above into the herbage, or flits about it for a short distance ere alighting.” The Lark sings just as richly on the ground as when on quivering wing. When in song he is said to be a good guide to the weather, for whenever we see him rise into the air, despite the gloomy looks of an overcast sky, fine weather is invariably at hand.
The nest is most frequently in the grass fields, sometimes amongst the young corn, or in places little frequented. It is made of dry grass and moss, and lined with fibrous roots and a little horse hair. The eggs, usually four or five in number, are dull white, spotted, clouded, and blotched over the entire surface with brownish green. The female Lark, says Dixon, like all ground birds, is a very close sitter, remaining faithful to her charge. She regains her nest by dropping to the ground a hundred yards or more from its concealment.
The food of the Lark is varied,—in spring and summer, insects and their larvae, and worms and slugs, in autumn and winter, seeds.
Olive Thorne Miller tells this pretty anecdote of a Skylark which she emancipated from a bird store: “I bought the skylark, though I did not want him. I spared no pains to make the stranger happy. I procured a beautiful sod of uncut fresh grass, of which he at once took possession, crouching or sitting low among the stems, and looking most bewitching. He seemed contented, and uttered no more that appealing cry, but he did not show much intelligence. His cage had a broad base behind which he delighted to hide, and for hours as I sat in the room I could see nothing of him, although I would hear him stirring about. If I rose from my seat he was instantly on the alert, and stretched his head up to look over at me. I tried to get a better view of him by hanging a small mirror at an angle over his cage, but he was so much frightened by it that I removed it.”
“This bird,” Mrs. Miller says “never seemed to know enough to go home. Even when very hungry he would stand before his wide open door, where one step would take him into his beloved grass thicket, and yet that one step he would not take. When his hunger became intolerable he ran around the room, circled about his cage, looking in, recognizing his food dishes, and trying eagerly to get between the wires to reach them; and yet when he came before the open door he would stand and gaze, but never go in. After five months’ trial, during which he displayed no particular intelligence, and never learned to enter his cage, he passed out of the bird room, but not into a store.”
Don’t be afraid, land; rejoice and be glad, for the LORD has done great things. Don’t be afraid, wild animals, for the wilderness pastures have turned green, the trees bear their fruit, and the fig tree and grapevine yield their riches. (Joel 2:21-22 HCSB)
The Eurasian Skylark (Alauda arvensis) is a small passerine bird species. This lark breeds across most of Europe and Asia and in the mountains of north Africa. It is mainly resident in the west of its range, but eastern populations are more migratory, moving further south in winter. Even in the milder west of its range, many birds move to lowlands and the coast in winter. Asian birds appear as vagrants in Alaska; this bird has also been introduced in Hawaii, western North America, eastern Australia and New Zealand.
The Eurasian Skylark is 16 to 18 centimetres long. It is a bird of open farmland and heath, known throughout its range for the song of the male, which is delivered in hovering flight from heights of 50 to 100 m, when the singing bird may appear as just a dot in the sky from the ground. The song generally lasts two to three minutes, but it tends to last longer later in the mating season. The male has broader wings than the female. This adaptation for more efficient hovering flight may have evolved because of female Eurasian Skylarks’ preference for males that sing and hover for longer periods and so demonstrate that they are likely to have good overall fitness.
Like most other larks, the Eurasian Skylark is a rather dull-looking species on the ground, being mainly brown above and paler below. It has a short blunt crest on the head, which can be raised and lowered. In flight it shows a short tail and short broad wings. The tail and the rear edge of the wings are edged with white, which are visible when the bird is flying away, but not if it is heading towards the observer. The Eurasian Skylark has sturdy legs and spends much time on the ground foraging for seeds, supplemented with insects in the breeding season.
The Eurasian Skylark makes a grass nest on the ground, hidden amongst vegetation. It is sometimes found nesting in bracken, using it for cover. Generally the nests are very difficult to find. Three to six eggs are laid in June. A second or third brood may be started later in the year. The eggs are yellow/white with brownish/purple spots mainly at the large end. (Wikipedia)
Oriental Skylark (Alauda gulgula) by Nikhil Devasar
There is also the Oriental Skylark (Alauda gulgula), also known as the Oriental Lark or Small Skylark, is a species of skylark found in the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Like other skylarks, it is found in open grassland – often near waterbodies – where it feeds on seeds and insects.
These skylarks frequently rocket up into the sky, fluttering and singing before descending down to earth. Male Oriental Skylarks may also hover in the air and sing, in order to attract a mate.
Oriental Skylarks are about 16 cm long. They have streaked, yellow-brown upper plumage, with white outer tail feathers and a short crest. Both sexes are similar. (Wikipedia)
The above article is the first article in the monthly serial that was started in January 1897 “designed to promote Knowledge of Bird-Live.” These include Color Photography, as they call them, today they are drawings. There are at least three Volumes that have been digitized by Project Gutenberg.
Lesser Yellow Legs for Birds Illustrated by Color Photography – From col. F. M. Woodruff.
THE YELLOW LEGS.
ELLOW LEGS, or Lesser Tell tale sometimes called Yellow-leg Snipe, and Little Cucu, inhabits the whole of North America, nesting in the cold temperate and subarctic districts of the northern continent, migrating south in winter to Argentine and Chili. It is much rarer in the western than eastern province of North America, and is only accidental in Europe. It is one of the wading birds, its food consisting of larvae of insects, small shell fish and the like.
The nest of the Lesser Yellow Shanks, which it is sometimes called, is a mere depression in the ground, without any lining. Sometimes, however, it is placed at the foot of a bush, with a scanty lining of withered leaves. Four eggs of light drab, buffy or cream color, sometimes of light brown, are laid, and the breast of the female is found to be bare of feathers when engaged in rearing the young. The Lesser Yellow legs breeds in central Ohio and Illinois, where it is a regular summer resident, arriving about the middle of April, the larger portion of flocks passing north early in May and returning about the first of September to remain until the last of October.
A nest of this species of Snipe was found situated in a slight depression at the base of a small hillock near the border of a prairie slough near Evanston, Illinois, and was made of grass stems and blades. The color of the eggs in this instance was a deep grayish white, three of which were marked with spots of dark brown, and the fourth egg with spots and well defined blotches of a considerably lighter shade of the same.
Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes) by Robert Scanlon
Lee’s Addition:
If you come across a bird’s nest in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs and the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young. (Deuteronomy 22:6 ESV)
The Yellowlegs belong to the Scolopacidae – Sandpipers, Snipes Family. There are 96 species in the family. The Tringa genus that they are placed in also has Redshanks, Greenshanks, Sandpipers, Tattlers, and the Willet.
The Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes) is a medium-sized shorebird similar in appearance to the larger Greater Yellowlegs. It is not closely related to this bird, however, but instead to the much larger and quite dissimilar Willet: merely the fine, clear and dense pattern of the neck shown in breeding plumage indicates these species’ actual relationships.
Their breeding habitat is clearings near ponds in the boreal forest region from Alaska to Quebec. They nest on the ground, usually in open dry locations.
They migrate to the Gulf coast of the United States and south to South America.
This species is a regular vagrant to western Europe, and the odd bird has wintered in Great Britain.
These birds forage in shallow water, sometimes using their bill to stir up the water. They mainly eat insects, small fish and crustaceans.
The call of this bird is softer than that of the Greater Yellowlegs.
The above article is the first article in the monthly serial that was started in January 1897 “designed to promote Knowledge of Bird-Live.” These include Color Photography, as they call them, today they are drawings. There are at least three Volumes that have been digitized by Project Gutenberg.
Lee's Birdwatching Adventures Plus 