Tag Archives: Isaiah 40:31

Golden Eagle Comeback in Southern Scotland

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Dr. James J. S. Johnson

GOLDEN EAGLE [photo credit: THE SCOTTISH BANNER, November AD2022]

“Does the hawk fly by your wisdom, and spread its wings toward the south? Does the eagle mount up at your command, and make its nest on high? On the rock it dwells and resides, on the crag of the rock and the stronghold. From there it spies out the prey; its eyes observe from afar.” 

JOB 39:26-29

It’s time for some good news—Golden eagles, thanks to some successfully relocated from the Outer Hebrides, are making a comeback in southern Scotland! Consider this happy report from the online November (AD2022) issue of THE SCOTTISH BANNER:

The pioneering South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project has become the first in the UK to successfully translocate free-flying young golden eagles (aged between 6 months and 3 years) to boost a low population of this iconic bird. These new additions bring the total number of golden eagles in the south of Scotland to around 33 – the highest number recorded here in the last three centuries. Taking a new research approach, under licence from NatureScot, the team leading the ground-breaking charity project revealed that they had successfully caught, transported and released seven golden eagles from the Outer Hebrides. . . .

The Outer Hebrides were selected as the source to boost the south of Scotland population because these Islands host one of the highest densities of golden eagles in Europe. The birds were released almost immediately on arrival in a secret location in the southern uplands of Scotland. The project team is continuing to monitor the birds’ progress to see if they settle and breed in the area. If they do, this could be a ground-breaking for the project.

Francesca Osowska, NatureScot’s Chief Executive, said: “This ground-breaking project has accomplished so much over just a few years, bringing a viable population of golden eagles back to south Scotland . . . it’s wonderful to see a success like this. Golden eagles are a vital part of Scotland’s wildlife, and we’re passionate about returning them to places where they used to thrive. . . .”

[Quoting Staff writer, “South of Scotland Golden Eagle Population Reaches New Heights Thanks to Novel Research Technique”, THE SCOTTISH BANNER, November AD2022.]

GOLDEN EAGLE (NETNS Wildlife Zone photo credit)

This eagle population increase has been developing over time, thanks to patient conservation efforts. See, for further details, Joe Gibbs, “The Return of the Golden Eagle to Southern Scotland: How the King of Birds is Set to Make a Comeback Beyond the Highlands”, COUNTRY LIFE (September 19, 2021), posted at http://www.countrylife.co.uk/nature/the-return-of-the-golden-eagle-to-southern-scotland-how-the-king-of-birds-is-set-to-make-a-comeback-beyond-the-highlands-232264 .

For another photograph of this magnificent raptor, see ornithologist Lee Dusing’s post “Golden Eagles in Scotland”, posted November 28th of AD2018, at https://leesbird.com/2018/11/28/golden-eagles-in-scotland-youtube/  —  wherein Lee cites the very relevant Scripture, Job 39:27. 

GOLDEN EAGLE (Wilderness Scotland photo credit)

For extra explanation about how eagles fly—thanks to God’s bioengineering design and construction of these heavy-bodied (and often-soaring) birds—review my online article titled “Hawks and eagles Launching Skyward”, ACTS & FACTS, 47(4):21 (April 2018), posted at  www.icr.org/article/hawks-eagles-launching-skyward  — noting that the same Hebrew verb [paras], which is used to describe raptor birds’ wing-spread in Job 39:26, is likewise used in Isaiah 33:23 to describe how boat-sails are spread out to catch (and thus harness the power of) the wind.

God taught the patriarch Job a lot about His creation in the “nature sermon” (filled with rhetorical questions) in Job 38–41. God used examples of wildlife to illustrate His wise and caring providence. In particular, He challenged Job to appreciate how and why hawks and eagles fly high in the skies above, looking far and wide for earthbound food. . . .

Some who read Job 39:26 assume hawk migration is the question’s topic. But because God compares the hawk’s aerial behavior to eagle flight, the context suggests otherwise. Both raptors require special aerodynamics to lift their heavy bodies into the air. God designed these raptors to utilize weather-powered “elevators” to ascend into air currents. . . .

Rising hot-air currents routinely blow in from south of Israel, so hawks can “catch a ride” simply by stretching out their wings southward, just as sailors harness wind to power boats at sea. Gliding and soaring on extended wings reduces air resistance as well as the hawk’s need to burn energy by flapping.

Likewise, when God commands wind to blow, eagles can “mount up” (literally, “cause to fly”) upon rising thermal air currents—as if they were elevators—and glide almost effortlessly until they spy food far below with their super-powerful distance vision.

[Quoting from James J. S. Johnson, “Hawks and eagles Launching Skyward”, ACTS & FACTS, 47(4):21 (April 2018), posted at  www.icr.org/article/hawks-eagles-launching-skyward]

GOLDEN EAGLE in Cairngorms Park, Scotland (Peter Cairns / NATUREPL.COM photo credit)

Eagles are majestic birds famous for nesting in high places (Obadiah 1:4), moving through the air in marvelous maneuvering movements (Proverbs 30:19), energized and powered by God’s sustaining enablements (Isaiah 40:31).

When I think of eagles—both golden eagles and bald eagles, or any other kind of eagles—and contemplate what God has put into these magnificent birds, I think of the old doxological hymn HOW GREAT THOU ART!

“Q” Up for 3 Birds

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“But those who wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31)

QUEEN CAROLA’S PAROTIA [Wikipedia image]

Learning to wait is a virtue, called patience (Romans 8:25; Galatians 6:9; 1st Corinthians 13:4), and waiting in line is often called “queueing up”. So here are 3 birds to “Q up” our appreciation for avian variety.

Carola's Parotia - eBird
QUEEN  CAROLA’S  PAROTIA [ eBird.org photo credit ]

QUEEN  CAROLA’S  PAROTIA, also called “Queen Carola’s 6-wired  Bird-of-Paradise”, are endemic (natively populated) only to New Guinea, the largest island in the Indonesian  archipelago.  Parotias are part of the bird-of-paradise family, and like their cousins, they perform histrionic ballet-like dances (called “leks”) upon forest dance-floors (flat areas of forest floor swept clean of loose vegetation and debris).   In such dances the male hops around and bobs his crest-feathered head, like a bobble-head toy, puffing his chest plumage, fluttering his wings, fanning his kilt-like feathers, and other enthusiastic displays of “showing off for the girls”.   

ROCK PTARMIGAN [Cornell Lab of Ornithology photo credit ]

QUAIL are various “galliform” ground-fowl (chicken-like birds), such as bobwhite quail, California quail,  partridges, ptarmigans, and red grouse.   Willow ptarmigans and rock ptarmigans have feather-covered feet and toes, resembling snowshoe rabbits.  Like snowshoe rabbits (with winter “snow” coats and brown summer coats), the Rock Ptarmigan’s white winter plumage camouflages with snow, and its brown summer plumage with wooded areas.

QUETZAL [Mexico Daily News photo]

QUETZALS are fancy trogon-birds, sporting flamboyant colors and long streamer-tails.  Latin American jungles and subtropical wet forests are habitats of Pavonine Quetzals, Crested Quetzals, Resplendent Quetzals,  Golden-headed Quetzals, and White-tipped Quetzals. Eared Quetzals live near streams in Mexico’s pine-oak forests and canyons.

17 cheers for “Q”!

><> JJSJ

 

Birds and Forest Fires

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Black-backed Woodpecker ©Flicker Michael Woodruff

Black-backed Woodpecker ©Flicker Michael Woodruff

All About Birds re-published an article about how Forest Fires affect wildlife and people from Living Bird magazine.

I found it to be very interest how so abundantly birds, wildlife and plants revive after a forest fire. This article was about the Rice Ridge Fire burn in the Swan Mountains of Montana. They show many of the birds that are now coming back and abounding.

“You send forth Your Spirit, they are created; And You renew the face of the earth. May the glory of the LORD endure forever; May the LORD rejoice in His works. He looks on the earth, and it trembles; He touches the hills, and they smoke.” (Psalms 104:30-32 NKJV)

One avian wonder especially pointed out is the Black-backed Woodpecker.

Black-backed Woodpecker (Picoides arcticus) by Daves BirdingPix

“The black-backed woodpecker (Picoides arcticus) also known as the Arctic three-toed woodpecker is a medium-sized woodpecker (23 cm (9.1 in) long) inhabiting the forests of North America.

Their breeding range is boreal forest across Canada, Alaska, the north-western United States, as well as northern Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Upper Michigan. In particular the species is a burnt-forest specialist, feeding on the outbreaks of wood-boring beetles that feed on recently burnt trees. The most important wood boring beetles taken are in the families Cerambycidae and Buprestidae, along with engraver beetles and Mountain pine beetle. Most food is obtained by pecking, a smaller proportion is obtained by gleaning off branches. Black-backed woodpeckers are generally non-migratory but historically have undertaken intermittent irruptions.

Black-backed Woodpecker (Picoides arcticus) by Ian

Nest excavation occurs in April and May; a fresh nest is drilled each year into the sapwood of dead trees. Abandoned nests are used by other species of bird to nest in. The female lays three or four eggs, and incubation duties are shared between both parents, although the male alone incubates during the night. Upon hatching the altricial chicks are brooded until the nestling phase. Both parents feed the chicks, which take about 24 days to fledge.

Nest excavation occurs in April and May; a fresh nest is drilled each year into the sapwood of dead trees. Abandoned nests are used by other species of bird to nest in. The female lays three or four eggs, and incubation duties are shared between both parents, although the male alone incubates during the night. Upon hatching the altricial chicks are brooded until the nestling phase. Both parents feed the chicks, which take about 24 days to fledge.

Black-backed Woodpecker (Picoides arcticus) by Ian

Black Backed Woodpecker

There are times when it is good to have things “renewed.”

“But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31 NKJV)

Information about  the Black-backed Woodpecker from [Wikipedia]

Old Flames: The Tangled History of Forest Fires, Wildfire, and People

All About Birds – Black-backed Woodpecker

Wordless Woodpeckers

Sunday Inspiration – Eagles

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But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. (Isaiah 40:31 KJV)

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Listen to music as the slideshow presents some of the Lord’s beautifully created birds.

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Don’t Give Up © by The Hyssongs (Used With Permission of the Hyssongs)

(Music and photos are used by permission. If copied, you must obtain permission also.)

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Eagles are members of the Accipitridae – Kites, Hawks and Eagles Family.

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More Sunday Inspiration

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