Tag Archives: 4th of July

Pyrrhuloxia-Cardinal Hybrid’s Plumage Matches 4th of July’s Fireworks Theme

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Pyrrhuloxia-Cardinal Hybrid’s Plumage Matches 4th of July’s Fireworks Theme

Dr. James J. S. Johnson

And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. (Joshua 24:15)

The Star Spangled Banner has been celebrated for many generations as America’s national anthem. Especially on the 4th of July we expect to sing (or hear) the Star-Spangled Banner, the lyrics of which were penned by a godly Christian lawyer, Francis Scott Key, while he was detained aboard a British ship during the bombardment of Fort McHenry, during the War of 1812.

StarSpangled-Banner.singing-PresidentTrump

So, it seems fitting that red, the color of military fireworks (i.e., “the rockets red glare”), and black, the color of the night sky (i.e., “gave proof through the night”) would be associated with the 4th of July. And, in a birdwatching-associated way, black and red did help me to appreciate America’s independence, last weekend, when I watched a special bird eating seeds from a birdfeeder.

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Cardinal X Pyrrhuloxia hybrid

Photo credit: Troy Corman AD2012 (Maricopa County, Arizona)

With a black facemask, it looked like a cardinal—yet it had a lot of black and grey, like a Pyrrhuloxia (a/k/a “Black Cardinal” or “Desert Cardinal”). Yet this bird’s plumage was highlighted with cardinal scarlet, plus it had a mostly orange-hued beak, not the yellow beak of a Pyrrhuloxia. It was not a female cardinal—female cardinals have tannish-brown plumage, sometimes with yellowish tones, highlighted by scarlet accenting. In other words, what I saw was a HYBRID, offspring of a Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) and a Pyrrhuloxia (Cardinalis sinuatus). Such hybrids have been seen before in Arizona, Texas (including one visiting ICR’s Dallas campus), and apparently also in Oklahoma.

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Pyrrhuloxia-Cardinal Hybrid photo credit: Janet Johnson (Brenham, TX) / Cornell Lab

For example, the Cornell Lab posts the following report by Janet Johnson (of Brenham, Texas), with a photograph of a hybrid that looks very much like what I saw last weekend (except what I saw was more blackish and less light-grey):

“I believe this bird is a Cardinal/Pyrrhuloxia hybrid. He is a beautiful, clear gray color like the Pyrrhuloxia with red on his tail, wings, and crest, but with a black mask like the Northern Cardinal. His bill is more like the Cardinal, being more orange than yellow. He also has red mottling down his breast like the Pyrrhuloxia.”

What a beautiful, fireworks-feathered, patriotic, dignified, crested seed-eater!

This patriotic post now concludes with a link to a video clip providing a 2nd Amendment-oriented variation of the Star-Spangled Banner, by the Black Rifle Coffee Company (which employs U.S. veterans, and makes several varieties of bold, strong coffee!):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHLlwiLebkc

(Make sure the audio volume is up enow.)

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Fort McHenry (public domain; aerial photo)

 

 

 

Nail-punctured Tire Leads to Red-bellied Woodpecker

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Nail-punctured  Tire  Leads  to  Red-bellied  Woodpecker

Dr. James J. S. Johnson

 Go to now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain.  Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time, and then it vanishes away.  For that ye ought to say, ‘If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that’.   (James 4:13-15)

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RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER photo credit: Ken Thomas / Wikipedia

How was seeing a Red-bellied Woodpecker, on July the 5th, the direct result discovering a punctured car tire on July the 4th? And how was this series of related events an illustration of James 4:13-15?

On the 4th of July we planned a multi-generational (i.e., 4 generations!) family get-together, to share a meal and a relaxing visit, but en route I discovered a silver screw-nail pressed into the front right tire of our van.  Surprise! – surprises like that can interrupt your “flight plan”, so a “Plan B” becomes necessary.

Although our arrival was a bit delayed, it all worked out, without too much trouble, by using a different car, but on July 5th about a half-day was spent with me at the tire repair place  —  but I used the wait-time wisely, reading about lobster ecdysis (i.e., shell-shedding, a/k/a molting) and other such fascinating activities of coastal crustaceans!

Yet should I have been totally surprised?  As James 4:13-15, quoted above, indicates, we should never be shocked when our Plan A must be replaced by a Plan B.  In the end, because we belong to our Lord Jesus Christ, it all works out for good (Romans 8:28).

A NAIL, A TIRE, AND INTERRUPTED PLANS

Silver gleamed from a tire of our van;

A road trip stopped ere it began:

A nail caused air to leak,

Making our van’s tire weak,

Quickly changing my day’s checklist plan.

On the brighter side, on the 5th of July, in a grassy are (with a few small trees) by the tire repair center, I saw (and watched with admiration for God’s detailed bioengineering handiwork) a Red-bellied Woodpecker — that’s a bird I don’t often get to see.

RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER photo credit: Helena Reynolds / Audubon Field Guide

Each day has its little treasures, if we have eyes to see them.  (And some days have much bigger treasures, such as when a grandchild demonstrated a sincere reverence for God and His Word!)