Be Thou My Vision | Lee's Birdwatching Adventures Plus

Chestnut-capped Brushfinch (Arremon brunneinucha) ©WikiC

Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O LORD of hosts, my King, and my God. (Psalms 84:3 KJV)

Sunday is here again, and it’s time to continue with the Emberizidae Family of Buntings, New World Sparrows and their allies. First, aren’t we thankful that the Lord has created the world and set up a seven day week. He set the pattern for us to rest after six days of work. He was tired, nor has he stopped working, He was just setting an example, because the human body needs rest. He ought to know, He created us.

“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.” (Genesis 2:1-3 KJV) (emphasis mine)

I for one look forward to Sundays. We rest and attend church, eat and fellowship with our friends, and attend the evening service and rest some more. These Sunday Inspirations, which have been going on for some time now, take several hours to put together, and then are scheduled for 1 or 2 minutes after midnight Sunday morning. When WordPress puts them up, I will already be resting in bed and enjoying the start of my Day of Rest. Enough of the personal information, let’s see what these birds are up to this week.

The first Sunday, we showed the Buntings in this family, last week, we showed most of the New World Sparrows in this Emberizidae family, so, let’s see who these “allies” are.

Eastern Towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus) by Ray

Towhees typically have longer tails than other emberizids. Most species tend to avoid humans, so they are not well known, though the eastern towhee P. erythrophthalmus is bolder. This species, and some others, may be seen in urban parks and gardens. Also, in with the Melozone genus are four Ground Sparrows.

Prevost’s Ground Sparrow (Melozone biarcuata) ©Flickr Richard Gibbons

Arremon is a genus of neotropical birds in the Emberizidae family. With the exception of the green-striped brush finch, which is endemic to Mexico, all species are found in South America, with a few reaching Central America.

Chestnut-capped Brushfinch (Arremon brunneinucha) ©Flickr Amy McAndrews

(Wikipedia with editing)

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“Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.” (Proverbs 29:18 KJV)

“Be Thou My Vision” ~ by Ladies and Girls Choir on Mother’s Day

More Sunday Inspirations

Sunday Inspiration – Emberizidae’s – Buntings

Sunday Inspiration – Emberizidae – Part II

Emberizidae – Buntings, New World Sparrows & Allies

Gospel Message

As you have been viewing the Sunday Inspirations lately, we have been going through the Passerines or Passerfiormes Order in taxonomic order. So far, I have shown you 30 families, which makes us almost a forth of the way through the 125 Passerine families.

Today’s families are the Psophodidae – Whipbirds, Jewel-babblers, Quail-thrushes Family with 16 members and the Platysteiridae – Wattle-eyes, Batises Family with 33 species.

Whipbirds, Jewel-babblers, Quail-thrushes that make up the Psophodidae family are native to Australia and nearby areas. They occur in forest, generally replacing each other at different altitudes. The painted quail-thrush is also found in the forests of New Guinea.The other quail-thrushes are restricted to Australia where they are found in drier habitats, occurring in open forest, scrub and on stony ground.[8] None of the species are thought to be threatened but one subspecies of the spotted quail-thrush is possibly extinct.

The whipbirds and wedgebills are all found in Australia, occurring in a range of habitats from rainforest to arid scrub. The western whipbird is considered to be near-threatened because of habitat loss and fires while the Papuan whipbird is classed as data deficient..

They are terrestrial birds which fly fairly weakly and prefer to squat or run when disturbed. They forage on the ground feeding mainly on insects and other invertebrates.[9] In the desert, quail-thrushes also eat some seeds. They build a cup-shaped nest among shrubs or on the ground. Two or three eggs are laid.

Eastern Whipbird (Psophodes olivaceus) by Ian

Here is the song of the Eastern Whipbird. It sounds like someone snapping a whip.

Brown-throated Wattle-eye (Platysteira cyanea) ©WikiC

The Platysteiridae – Wattle-eyes, Batises Family are a favorite of mine because of their eyes. They are a family of small stout birds living in trees, primarily of the woodlands and forests of sub-Saharan Africa. The family contains the wattle-eyes, batises and shrike-flycatchers. They were previously classed as a subfamily of the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae.

These insect-eating birds are found in usually open forests or bush. They hunt by flycatching, or by taking prey from the ground like a shrike. The nest is a small neat cup low in a tree or bush. The most important component of the diet of all species is insects, although spiders, millipedes and scorpions are also taken, and there are even records of small lizards being consumed.

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For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, And He ponders all his paths. (Proverbs 5:21 NKJV)

My son, give me your heart, And let your eyes observe my ways. (Proverbs 23:26 NKJV)

The humble shall see this and be glad; And you who seek God, your hearts shall live. (Psalms 69:32 NKJV)

Listen to Sean play as you watch these two beautifully created families of birds: