Iceland Gull (Larus glaucoides) chick-egg nest ©USFWS

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)

On the fifth day of creation when God Created the birds, they were told/commanded “let birds multiply on the earth.” The birds then started obeying that command. When their numbers were reduced to seven pairs of each living avian species, to be saved from the flood in the ark, they were again commanded to be fruitful and multiply when they left the ark. Look at the numerous avian population we have today.

Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you: birds and cattle and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, so that they may abound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth. (Genesis 8:17 NKJV)

The Lord in His wisdom gave the birds the ability to produce their young by laying eggs and then having the young “hatch.” There are many aspects of this, but the way the egg is produced is our focus today.

Fairy Prion (Pachyptila turtur) ©WikiC with egg

Reading around the “evolution” of the article (see below) “Eggs and Their Evolution” in the Birder’s Handbook, I came across these interesting facts.

“Bird eggs are virtually self-contained life-support systems. All they require for the embryo to develop properly are warmth and oxygen. Oxygen diffuses into the egg through microscopic holes formed by the imperfect packing of the calcium carbonate crystals that compose the eggshell. There are not many of these pores—for example, they make up only about 0.02 percent of the surface of a duck egg. Carbon dioxide and water vapor diffuse outward through the same pores. Birds can lay their eggs in even drier environments than reptiles, because when the fatty yolk is broken down to provide energy for the developing embryo, water is produced as a by-product.” That is fantastic!

Here is an interesting link about the development of a chicken in the egg. Chickscope Click through the different days to see the development.

Different Eggs- Birds and Others – from Wikipedia

Also eggs come in a “wide variety of sizes, shapes, colors, and textures” as you can see in the chart above.

From Creation Moments, “BIRDS EGG EVOLUTION”

For she [the ostrich] leaves her eggs on the ground, and warms them in the dust; she forgets that a foot may crush them, or that a wild beast may break them. (Job 39:14 15)

The creation is literally filled with millions of what those who believe in evolution call “happy coincidences.” But when you encounter millions of instances of what appears to be thoughtful design, the obvious conclusion is that there is a Designer. Take the example of bird eggs.

The shape of the egg makes it strong. This strength comes in handy in a busy nest. Mom and dad are coming and going, and they turn the eggs periodically during incubation. But all eggs are not equally egg shaped, and there is a pattern to their shapes. Birds like robins that build a nice, dish shaped nest tend to lay eggs that are more round in shape. Screech owls, which lay their eggs at the bottom of a hole in a tree, also have round shaped eggs. Birds, like the killdeer, barely build any kind of nest and lay eggs on the ground where almost round eggs could roll away. For this reason, birds such as a Kildeer lay much more sharply pointed eggs which are designed to pivot on their small end. Likewise, eggs that are laid where predators are not likely to see them are usually pale or solid in color, but eggs laid out in the open are camouflaged. Moreover, baby birds that hatch in protected nests like the bluebird, tend to be naked, blind and helpless. But the unprotected killdeer hatchlings are ready to leave the nest within minutes of hatching.

All coincidences? It seems more scientific to say that here we have a few of the many fingerprints of our wise Creator!
Prayer:
“I praise You, Father, for how Your glory is reflected in the creation. Amen.”
Notes: Jim Williams, Bird basics: egg size, color and shape, Star Tribune, July 29, 1999, p.8″

Maleo (Macrocephalon maleo) egg©©Wong Dermayu

Maleo (Macrocephalon maleo) ©©Wong Dermayu (Megapode)

Here are some more interesting facts about bird eggs from the Birder’s Handbook:

“The proportion of yolk differs between altricial and precocial birds. The former, which hatch so undeveloped that they require significant parental care and thus need less stored energy, generally have eggs that contain about 25 percent yolk. Precocial birds, which can walk and feed themselves shortly after hatching, have eggs with about 40 percent yolk (67 percent in megapodes, inhabitants of Australia and Pacific islands which upon hatching are virtually ready to fly). Interestingly, in spite of this difference, and although bird eggs range in weight from about one hundredth of an ounce (small hummingbird) to three and a half pounds (ostrich), all bird eggs lose water amounting to about 15 percent of their original weight during incubation. This careful control is probably a result of the necessity to keep the water content of the developing chick’s tissues constant even though metabolic water is continually being produced.”

Australian Pipit (Anthus australis) altricial ©WikiC

Birds lay their eggs proportionate to their size, but not what you would think. A wren may lay an egg that weighs about 13% of its weight, while an ostrich egg may only be 2% of its weight. “the parents must “invest” more in the egg to give the chick the energy and materials required for more advanced development within the confines of the shell.”

The book ask this question: “Why have birds not “advanced” beyond egg laying and started to bear their young alive like mammals?” Here is what The Bible says about that.

Let them praise the name of the LORD, For He commanded and they were created. (Psalms 148:5 NKJV)
Lift up your eyes on high, And see who has created these things, Who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, By the greatness of His might And the strength of His power; Not one is missing. Why do you say, O Jacob, And speak, O Israel: “My way is hidden from the LORD, And my just claim is passed over by my God”? Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. (Isaiah 40:26-28 NKJV)
That they may see and know, And consider and understand together, That the hand of the LORD has done this, And the Holy One of Israel has created it. (Isaiah 41:20 NKJV)

The Lord created them, just the way, in His Wisdom, that they were to be. He looked on His handiwork and called it, Very Good!

Creation was corrupted because of the curse of sin that all are under.

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. (Romans 8:20-22 NKJV)

(“Reading around the “evolution” is my term for reading the article and looking at the facts and evidence, but from a Christian perspective. We all are observing the same birds and eggs, but some look at it from a theory of evolution and I look at them from believing that God in His Wisdom designed them to be the way they are.

Here is an example: “The other major group of reptile descendants, the birds, not only have continued the reptilian tradition, but have evolved eggs of an improved design in a wide variety of sizes, shapes, colors, and textures.” [from the Birder’s Handbook]

Here is my “reading around evolution”: Birds have eggs, designed through creation, in a wide variety of sizes, shapes, colors, and textures. Even simpler, just looking at the facts: Birds have eggs in a wide variety of sizes, shapes, colors, and textures )

Gospel Message

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