The Birds of the Bible are why Lee’s Birdwatching Adventures Plus was started. Now, 16 years later, do you or I remember what was posted?
When we started this, we may have had one or two birdwatching books. Today, my bookshelves, at least three of them. have these books waiting on me to find new and interesting bird facts. I wonder what amazing information could be gleaned about God’s Creative Handiwork at work on the birds? Huh??
Bird Books in Library
We now have additional writers that would also be willing to contribute more articles. (I will invite them to join in this.)
When was the first bird created? (Genesis 1:20)
What day was that? (Genesis 1:23)
Who named the first birds? (Genesis 2:19)
What were the names of first bird species listed in the Bible? (Genesis 8:7, 8)
Did birds come from dinosaurs?
Do you know? Want to find out more? Leave me a comment. Stay tuned!
“The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come,…” (Song of Solomon 2:12 KJV)
What an interesting and informative article about the creation of Zebra Finches and their singing duets. Bryian Thomas, PH.D. from the Institute For Creation Research wrote “Finch Duets Open Surprising Window on Bird Origins”
The Zebra Finches appears to have a pattern of singing that goes against what evolutionists suppose is to be the normal behavior of Finches.
“A male finch sings to females while courting, but then quiets down after finding his mate. According to evolution, finches have no reason to continue to communicate at that point, since they’ve already ensured that their genes will be passed on to a new generation. Thus, researchers were surprised to find that wild zebra finches sing to each other only after becoming a couple.”
Zebra Finch (Taeniopygia guttata) by Ian
He also discusses how these songs are thought to have happened through natural selection, but….
“For male finches to sing their songs, they have to have a fully-formed system of pulmonary tubing, valves, musculature, and integrated skeletal structures. Then, the larynx (many birds have two) has to be located near the mouth and properly “wired” to the correct areas of the brain. All of that would still be useless, however, without the instinctive knowledge required to compose a song, or without the females’ ears being tuned to their specific tones. To consider this seamless array of parts as a product of just nature is imaginative–not scientific.”
“Zebra finches are active and colorful birds from Australia, and they choose a mate for life.” Thankfully, Ian has provided us with great photos of the unique Avian Wonders.
Q: Are today’s birds genealogical ‘cousins’ to today’s reptiles, due to a shared (evolutionary) ancestry?
A: No. However, birds and reptiles share the same Creator, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who created them to share the same earth.
All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.
1st Corinthians 15:39
According to the evolutionary sequence of [imagined] events, birds are supposed to have evolved from reptiles.3
If that had occurred in the past, which it did not, it would mean that today’s birds—such as robins and roadrunners—would be distant ‘cousins’ of reptiles—such as cobras and crocodiles.
The Darwinian tale portrays today’s birds as winged dinosaurs who supposedly survived a global ‘extinction event’ that supposedly occurred about 66,000,000 years ago.1,2
Is there any eyewitness report supporting this magical scenario, or even evidence of any such timeframe? No and no.4,5
Although there are myriads of errors in this sensational speculation, only a few of which are mentioned here.
In particular, this pseudoscience scenario requires swallowing at least three invalid and drastic premises:
(1) the assumption that reptiles are not fundamentally different from birds;3 and
(2) the assumption that a secret agent (oxymoronically named “Natural Selection”, as if “its” naturalistic outcomes were intended) can accidently invent—and then successfully secure(i.e., genetically “lock down”)—such traumatic transitional transmogrifications;5 and
(3) the assumption that any such transitions’ biochemical and genetic details, in defiance of entropy’s universal destructiveness, repeatedly escaped thermodynamic reality.5
For starters, just imagine the first-listed problem, i.e., the complicated anatomical and physiological differences between birds and reptiles:
birds have hollow bones; reptiles, except for marrow cavities, have solid bones.
birds use air sacs for non-stop unidirectional (one-way) airflow through their lungs; most reptiles have two-way breathing systems.
birds are endothermic (warm-blooded), actively controlling their body “thermostats”; reptiles are mostly ectothermic (cold-blooded).
birds have muscle-controlled feathers; reptiles have dry skins or scales.
birds have four-chambered hearts; reptiles usually have three-chambered hearts.
So don’t expect reptiles to accidentally change their genes to produce birds as descendants!
As Australian creation scientist Fiona Smith once said:
In other words, you don’t just put feathers on a reptile and then it can fly. There are a multitude of [essential] attributes, all working together, that make a bird fly.2
There is much more proof—to borrow Dr. Frank Sherwin’s observations—that birds have always (and only) been birds, and that reptiles have always (and only) been reptiles.
References
1 For centuries evolutionists have proposed the notion that birds somehow evolved from reptiles, imagining “feathered dinosaurs” or dinosaur-like flying reptiles (like pterodactyls) as speculative ‘transitional’ animals. Burnett, R. W., H. I, Fisher, and H. S. Zim. 1958. Zoology: An Introduction to the Animal Kingdom. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 5-7, 13-17, 72-75; Zim, H. S., and I N. Gabrielson. 1964. Birds: A Guide to the Most Familiar American Birds. New York, NY: Golden Press, 12-13.
2 “Birds are incredible flying (and occasionally non-flying) machines. The Creator has designed these creatures with specialized flight apparatus, an amazing respiratory system, not to mention unbelievable migration and navigation abilities.” Sherwin, F. 2006. A ‘One-Hundred-Million-Year-Old Bird’ Is Still a Bird. Creation Science Update (June 20, 2006). See also Johnson, J. J. S. 2020. Wandering Albatross: Wide Wings on the Winds. Creation Science Update (July 2, 2020), citing Job 39:26-27 as illustrating God’s bioengineering that enables heavy birds to efficiently use wind current for launching their heavier-than-air bodies into the sky.
3 Smith, F. 2015. Evidence for Creation: A Tour through Some East-Australian Zoos. Fremantle, Western Australia: Vivid Publishing, 164-165 (quotation), 251. Fiona Smith, an Australian professional geoscientist and science educator, graduated ICR’s School of Biblical Apologetics, during 2015 with a Master of Christian Education degree (joint major in Biblical Education & Apologetics).
4 Regarding the need for reliable eyewitnesses, to learn the truth about unique events of the no-longer-observable past, see Johnson, J. J. S. 2016. There’s Nothing Like an Eyewitness. Acts & Facts. 45(12):20.
5 Regarding the ubiquitous and inescapable destructiveness of biochemical entropy, see Johnson, J. J. S. 2018. Infinite Time Won’t Rescue Evolution. Acts & Facts. 47(6):21. Regarding the animistic role that selectionists imagine “nature” as playing, in order to “favor” or “select” a series of genetic mutations for producing phenotypically survivability-“fit” outcomes, see Guliuzza, R. 2011. Darwin’s Sacred Imposter: The Illusion that Natural Selection Operates on Organisms. Acts & Facts. 50 (12).
Psalm 40:5 “Many, O LORD my God, [are] thy wonderful works [which] thou hast done, and thy thoughts [which are] to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: [if] I would declare and speak [of them], they are more than can be numbered.”
Though God created the entire living kingdom in only a few days, the variety and creativity of what He made seems nearly unlimited by our standards. One of the more unusual creatures He made was thought extinct until it was rediscovered in 1958.
The kakapo parrot lives in New Zealand. The most unusual parrot on Earth, it is one of only a few known parrots that prefers to sleep during the day and becomes active at night. Weighing in at five pounds, it is also the world’s heaviest parrot. It is, perhaps not surprisingly, the world’s only non-flying parrot.
The Creator’s unusual expression of inventive creativity in designing the kakapo did not end here. The mating habits of the kakapo are especially peculiar for birds. In mating season, the males gather in locations that are used year after year for mate selection. Female parrots come to these places to inspect the males to select a mate. However, in most un-bird-like fashion, the males provide absolutely no help building the nest or rearing the young.
The kakapo is remarkable because of its many strange traits, most of which would make it least fit for survival. In other words, not only is it an unusual creature, but its more unusual characteristics seem to put it at a disadvantage as far as evolution is concerned. So while evolution would not have made the kakapo, our inventive Creator did, perhaps as a witness against evolution.
Prayer: Dear Father in heaven, I thank You for the beauty and creativity You have placed into Your work of creation and for the blessings these gifts add to life. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Author: Paul A. Bartz
Ref: Discover, Mar. 1985. p. 36. Photo: Kakapo by Chris Birmingham CCA 2.0.xcf
Did birds evolve from dinosaurs, as students are being taught? Watch our video for the answer
Students in public schools and universities are being taught that dinosaurs evolved into birds over millions of years … and that the Bible’s account of the six days of creation is pure myth. That’s why we encourage you to watch our “Designed for Flight” video and show it to the rest of your family. In under two minutes, you and your school-age children (or grandchildren) will see that the evolutionary explanation of birds just won’t fly!
To watch “Designed for Flight”, CLICK HERE or on the photo above. Then forward this e-mail to your friends so they can watch the video and lots of other biblical-creation videos from Creation Moments!
“Designed for Flight” is one of 26 videos you’ll find on the third volume of our Moments with God’s Creation DVD. Each video was created to glorify God and expose evolution as they myth that it really is! Order the DVD today!
Dino to Bird Display – Desert Museum Tucson by Lee
Lee’s Addition:
“So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” So the evening and the morning were the fifth day.” (Genesis 1:21-23 NKJV)
I would like to share a few quotes from the article, trusting that you will follow the link to read the full article. The Hoatzin is one of those birds that the evolutionist can’t figure out what to do with. It is not a typical bird that can be neatly tucked into a family or an order. Evolutionist try so hard to convince us that dinosaurs evolved into birds, that they are really puzzled about this unique Avian Wonder from Our Creator.
“The hoatzin is a very unique bird, something of a conglomeration of traits typical of birds, reptiles, and even mammals. As a bird, it shares characteristics typical of birds such as being warm-blooded, having feathers, and so on. It is roughly the size of a turkey, with a colorful, crested head and long tail feathers. However, its most interesting and unique features are distinctly un-birdlike.”
The Hoatzin history is traced through Africa mainly, and then found in France, Brazil, and Columbia. Yet, all they find is a single bone or two in each place, and come up with their conclusions.
“The enigmatic Opisthocomus (hoatzin) still cannot be confidently placed, but some putative sister relationships can be rejected.”10 The hoatzins unique traits and obvious discontinuity from other birds have completely impeded any evolutionary attempt to classify it. Evolutionary scientists have no explanation for the origin of the hoatzin, despite numerous attempts to create a phylogenetic tree that will fit them.”
Hoatzin ( Opisthocomus hoazin) by Ian
“Let them praise the name of the LORD: for he commanded, and they were created.” (Psalms 148:5 KJV)
One of the paragraph headings tells the whole story, at least as I see it. “Designed to Do What It Does Do” It eats leaves only, has a claw on wing when born, has a unique stomach and digestive system,
“Even ignoring the devastating blow hoatzin deals to Archaeopteryx as a transitional form, it causes evolutionists other significant problems, as evidenced by the trouble it gives to their cladistic models. They simply cannot determine what its ancestor was. However, if they would pause long enough to consider Genesis 1, they might recognize that hoatzin likely is its own created kind and thus its ancestor was a hoatzin.29”
From Wikipedia: “The hoatzin (Opisthocomus hoazin), also known as the reptile bird, skunk bird, stinkbird, or Canje pheasant, is a species of tropical bird found in swamps, riparian forests, and mangroves of the Amazon and the Orinoco basins in South America. It is notable for having chicks that have claws on two of their wing digits.
It is the only member of the genus Opisthocomus (Ancient Greek: “long hair behind”, referring to its large crest). This is the only extant genus in the family Opisthocomidae. The taxonomic position of this family has been greatly debated by specialists, and is still far from clear.”
“And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.”
One of the most obvious objections to the alleged evolution of birds from therapod dinosaurs is the evolution of feathers themselves. In order to change a therapod dinosaur, which would appear to have bare reptilian scales, into a bird with feathers, it is supposed that the scales must fray into pieces to make the distinguished feathery structure.
Many evolutionists have noticed the difficulty in suggesting so many changes, and it is partly for this reason that therapod dinosaurs themselves are often depicted covered with feathers. However, by doing this, evolutionists have merely moved the problem, and not solved it.
Part of the issue is that key parts of the feather have to be very exact in their construction in order to work. For example, the ‘hooks and eyes’ on the feathers (known as barbules and hamuli) must be exactly the right size to fit together. If they were a little short or a little long, then there would not be an airtight fit for flight, or a watertight fit for waterfowl. The only response that evolutionists can have is that this exactness is not necessary for their feathered dinosaurs, so they are allowing that the evolution of exact barbules might be later than that of original feathers. But this explanation is weak and does not pass the Occam Razor test of simplicity, whereas the careful, accurate design of feathers, independent of scales, clearly does.
Prayer: Thank You, Lord, for the beauty and simplicity, yet intricacy, that we see in the designs that You have made. We stand in awe and praise Your Name. Amen.
Author: Paul F. Taylor
Ref: Bergman, J., The evolution of feathers: a major problem for Darwinism, Journal of Creation (formerly TJ) 17(1):33–41, April 2003. Image: Public Domain.
“O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of ‘science’ falsely so called, which some professing have erred [i.e., deviated] concerning the faith. ” (1st Timothy 6:20-21a)
Hot Fudge Sundae, with brownie & cherry (photo credit: Braum’s)
Recent reports (April 17, 2020) show that Chinese fudge is being produced, in Wuhan, at numbers now doubling earlier reports. And more cherry-picked statistics.
The official Covid-19 death toll for Wuhan has been revised [as of April 17, 2020] up by 1,290 to 3,869 as life in the city returns to something like normal as many restrictions are lifted…..
“And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.”
There are quite a number of birds that cannot fly. This sometimes surprises us, but it shouldn’t. We tend to wonder how they “lost” the ability to fly, but, although there are some species that might possibly have lost an ability to fly (as losing such an ability usually involves loss of information, not spontaneous creation), there is no reason to suppose that many have lost an ability. After all, we do not wonder at mammals that fly (i.e., bats), and we accept that these were created on Day Five, whereas most mammals were made on Day Six. In the same way, most flightless birds seem to be perfectly designed the way that they are. Ratite birds, for example, have no keel on their sternum. The keel is what anchors muscles to the wings, to enable flight. But birds like ostriches, rheas, emus and kiwis show no evidence, either in extant species or in the fossil record, to suggest that they ever had a structure. Therefore, they have not evolved into such a state – they were designed like that by God because that is the best design for us.
Other birds are flightless for other reasons. Penguins, for example, do not fly, but they do sort-of fly through water! Again, this requires a particular type of design that could not arise by itself. God designed penguins just perfectly for their habitat and their lives.
Flightless birds do not support evolutionary ideas. God created them as He saw fit.
Prayer: Thank You Father, even for those creatures that seem so strange to us! But they are part of Your overall design, and they give witness to Your creative power. Amen.
Author: Paul F. Taylor
Ref: O’daniel, D. (2015), Flightless Birds—Alternate Flight Plan, < https://answersingenesis.org/birds/flightless-birds-alternate-plan/ >, accessed 1/30/2019. Image: CC BY-SA 2.5 Generic.
Flying Ring-billed Gull; Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, USA by William Wise Photo
Chasing Gulls
by William Wise
It seems the favorite sport of every dog and child on the beach is to run wildly into a pack of gulls. I have to admit, it does look fun, and I probably did it too as a child. While visiting beach of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina this past Christmas, I marveled at the flight of the terns and gulls. Lifting off, taking to the air, circling around, diving and coming back to a landing to avoid the berserker kids and dogs. How do they do it?
From the beginning, as he marveled at the flight of birds, man began chasing the dream to fly. The first concerted efforts came as early as 1485, if not earlier, with Leonardo DaVinci’s Ornithoper blueprints. Although many efforts were made, it wasn’t until 1903 that flight was accomplished by humans. We may have large jumbo jets carrying people across the globe today, but it was a long, arduous process to get there.
If it was so difficult for man to learn to fly, how did birds catch on so quickly and gracefully learn to take to the air? The answer: they didn’t learn! The birds immediately burst forth in color and flight on Day 5 of creation! They were designed, equipped and enabled to fly from their very beginning. They got off to a flying start, so to speak!
Ring-billed Gulls; Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, USA by William Wise Photo
Does that sound like an impossible fairy tale? Well, consider this yarn: “Flight appears to have evolved separately four times in history: in insects, bats, birds and pterosaurs. These four groups of flying animals didn’t evolve from a single, flying ancestor. Instead, they all evolved the ability to fly from separate ancestors that couldn’t fly. This makes flight a case of convergent evolution.”
Did you catch that? The complexity of flight evolved separately on four different occasions? Since the probability of even a simple, 200 component, single-celled organism evolving is at least 1060 (a “one” followed by sixty “zeros”), flight evolving even once is basically an impossibility. But four times?
It takes less imagination and faith to marvel at the wonder of flight and know that an incredible Artist designed it in one swift stroke! “And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air” (Genesis 2:19)
Lee’s Addition:
When I first introduced you to William Wise, it was because of his photography. Now, he is also willing to share articles/posts with us on a regular basis. Trust you will enjoy having him “on board” with the rest of us.
Stay tuned for great topics tying birds and creation together.
His Site:
“Doth the hawk fly by thy wisdom, and stretch her wings toward the south? Doth the eagle mount up at thy command, and make her nest on high?”
I remember buying a foot pump to inflate the tires on my first car. My choice was between two pumps. On the cheaper model, the foot operated a piston entering a cylinder in which the air would be compressed and forced through a tube into the tire. When the foot was lifted, valves prevented air getting back into the cylinder from the tire, and, instead, dragged air in from the outside. Each depression of the foot repeated this operation. In a sense, the lungs of mammals and reptiles would resemble two such pumps side by side.
The second model featured two pistons and cylinders angled in opposite directions. Pressing with the foot began the first stage of tire compression as before, but on releasing the foot, the second cylinder pushed air into the tire while the first refilled with external air. The next foot depression allowed cylinder 2 to refill while cylinder 1 pumped. Thus, there was air pumped into the tire on both depression and release of the foot. The two cylinders worked in tandem, in opposite directions. This second continuous pump is like the two lungs in a bird.
Even some well-known evolutionary scientists have pointed out how impossible it would be for one mechanism to evolve into the other because the transitional form would not be able to process air for breathing at all, and would suffocate. So bird lungs could not have evolved from dinosaurs, but, instead, are designed by God for exactly their purpose.
Prayer: Father, when we think about birds, as with all other animals, we acknowledge that You have made them fit for purpose, to be able to live and work the way that You have designed them to do. Amen.
Ref: Quick, D.E and Ruben, J.A., Cardio-Pulmonary Anatomy in Theropod Dinosaurs: Implications From Extant Archosaurs, JOURNAL OF MORPHOLOGY 270:1232–1246 (2009), pp. 1232-1246. Image: Public Domain.
Ken Ham, from Answers in Genesis, wrote an article about Dingos, The Dingo—It’s Not a Dog, But It’s a “Dog”. We have watched a pair of them at the Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa many times.
In fact the ones at Lowry are promoted as “Singing Dogs.”
Singing Dog Sign LPZ by Lee
“they and every beast after its kind, all cattle after their kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort.” (Genesis 7:14 NKJV)
Anyway, the article tell how with DNA testing, it is just again proving that the Lord created different “Kinds” with in the Dog Family. The Dingo is its own species, yet it is still in the Canidae Family. They “can reproduce with domestic and feral dogs.”
I always enjoy when real science reveals the truths which the Lord God has already revealed in His Word, the Bible.
Here’s a video that I took at the zoo when the two of them got to calling/singing back and forth.
“There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification.” (1 Corinthians 14:10 KJV)
Singing Dogs at Lowry Pk Zoo
“Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD!” (Psalms 150:6 NKJV)
New Guinea Singing Dogs at Lowry Park Zoo, Tampa, Florida
One of the most obvious objections to the alleged evolution of birds from therapod dinosaurs is the evolution of feathers themselves. In order to change a therapod dinosaur, which would appear to have bare reptilian scales, into a bird with feathers, it is supposed that the scales must fray into pieces to make the distinguished feathery structure.
There are quite a number of birds that cannot fly. This sometimes surprises us, but it shouldn’t. We tend to wonder how they “lost” the ability to fly, but, although there are some species that might possibly have lost an ability to fly (as losing such an ability usually involves loss of information, not spontaneous creation), there is no reason to suppose that many have lost an ability. After all, we do not wonder at mammals that fly (i.e., bats), and we accept that these were created on Day Five, whereas most mammals were made on Day Six. In the same way, most flightless birds seem to be perfectly designed the way that they are. Ratite birds, for example, have no keel on their sternum. The keel is what anchors muscles to the wings, to enable flight. But birds like ostriches, rheas, emus and kiwis show no evidence, either in extant species or in the fossil record, to suggest that they ever had a structure. Therefore, they have not evolved into such a state – they were designed like that by God because that is the best design for us.
Lee's Birdwatching Adventures Plus 