Birds of Many Feathers
Birds of Many Feathers
Collin Leong. Jan 25, 2015
I love to photograph birds, a creature I consider the most beautiful and fascinating in all the animal kingdom. Capturing fantastic photo shots of birds in the wild, however, is an elusive goal as they are shy creatures, stay hidden in trees and can simply fly away if you get near or make any kind of noise.
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| Egret, Florida |
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| Great Blue Heron, Florida |
Feathers
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| Wood Duck |
Birds have a number of unique designs that are different from other mammals. We should start our observation with their feathers. By definition, all birds have feathers, and any animal that has feathers is a bird.
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| Ibis, Singapore |
The main purposes of feathers are to keep the creature warm and to enable flight. Of course, flight also requires proper wing structure and size relative to its body weight. That’s why penguins and ostriches cannot fly though they have feathers. Penguins feathers are short and packed tightly together to shield them from the cold climate.
Most flying birds’ feathers have tiny hooks (called barbules) at the tip that keep them locked together, creating an efficient sail to catch the wind when flying and provides water resistance when it rains. However barbules create wind-noise as the bird flies and this may not be advantageous to certain birds of prey. That's why Owls do not have barbules in order to enable a silent flight as they swoop down on nocturnal preys that have sensitive hearings.
Feathers also serve as a camouflage or a defensive display for protection against predators, as well as a flirting display to attract mates for reproduction. The peacock is a good example for this.
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| Peacock, Florida |
Birds replace their worn out feathers once or twice a year through the process of molting.
Wings
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| Hawk, Singapore |
"Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest.
I would flee far away and stay in the desert; I would hurry to my place of shelter, far from the tempest and storm.” (Psalms 55:6)
The combination of feathers and powerful muscles in the wings of birds enable them to fly effortlessly. In order for wing spans to be of reasonable length, birds’ bones must be light and yet very strong. Galileo describe bird’s skeleton as being hollow and light, as compared to those of other mammals. The bone tissues are also of higher density in order to take the stress of flight.
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| Singapore |
Different birds fly in different manners. For example, Eagles has broad and spread-out feathers that enable them to soar passively using thermal current, while sea gulls will need flap their wings more when no wind is there to lift them.
Certain other birds have narrow wings that give them the ability to sprint at incredible speed. The peregrine falcon, for example, had been measured to dive over 380km/hour. The hummingbird uses the “hovering” method, beating it’s wing up to 50 times a second in a figure eight pattern, allowing it to move in all directions including backwards.
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| Great Blue Heron |
To help with long distance flights, some birds fly in a V-formation, which can be commonly observed in migrating geese. By co-ordinating their flapping motions, the wings of the front birds produce vortices and creates “wind lift” and reduces drag to ease the effort birds flying behind.
When the leading bird is tired and need a rest, another bird automatically takes over. Studies show that this collaboration enables the birds to improve flight range by over 70%. This natural behavior of migrating birds has often been used as an example to encourage team work in human endeavors.
Eyes
The eyes of birds are designed specifically for what the bird needs to do. Birds of prey have binocular vision that allows them to zoom into small objects and judge distance at high precision. An eagle can spot a rabbit from a mile away. The owl, on the other hand, have a huge number of rod cells (a million compared to 200,000 in humans) that enable it to see well in darkness.
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| Green Heron, Florida |
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| Owl, Singapore |
You may notice that an owl and a pigeon have their eyes placed very differently. As a bird of prey, the owl’s eyes are placed in front of its face, which enables it to have binocular (stereo) vision to estimate the distance of the prey accurately.
A pigeon, however, goes about in daylight and hence the ability for it to see danger coming from all directions is more important. The pigeon eyes placement at the side enables it to see 340 degrees, compared to a human’s 120 degrees.
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| Flamingo, Florida |
In general birds can see a larger range of colors including light not visible to human eyes such as ultraviolet spectrum, due to an extra fourth cone as compared to the human’s three. Scientists believe the ultraviolet perception are used in choosing mates, detecting predators (such as ultraviolet in urine), and even “see” earth’s magnetic field for navigation purposes.
Feet & Beaks
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| Toucan, Florida |
The Eagle claws have a locking mechanism that do not need a lot of muscle effort to hold on to the struggling prey, and the Eagle can even sleep while perching on a tree branch.
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| Pelican, Florida |
Birds with webbed feet and flat beaks like ducks hunt in water for fish. Pelicans have pouches that enable them to store their catch for late afternoon snacks!
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| Ibis, Florida |
Still other birds have very thin and long beaks that enable them to reach the nectar in flowers or fish in rivers.
Short and rounded beaks are "multi-purpose" such as for eating seeds or worms on ground surfaces.
Lessons from Birds
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| Green Heron, Florida |
There are very few stories with birds as the main character in the scriptures. We do have the heroic role of birds when they helped Noah to detect whether the flood has subsided and whether it was safe to leave the ark. This is where the “peace” symbol of a dove with leaves in its beak comes from. Turtle doves and pigeons were also used for sacrifice in the Hebrew religion in the Old Testament.
Provision
However there are some symbolic or metaphoric uses of birds in the Bible. Firstly, Jesus used the lessons of birds in telling us not to worry or be anxious about our needs, because God will take care of us.
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| Kookaburra, Australia |
“Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?” (Matthew 6:26)
"Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God for help, and wander about for lack of food?" (Job 38:41)
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| Sandpiper, Sri Lanka |
This is true when you consider how birds can migrate from North to South to safe haven that they have never been before, thousands of miles from where they hatched. Scientists still do not know how the birds know the route there and back, but yet God has designed this in them and oversees their journey. We need to step out in faith and not worry about worldly needs when he calls us to His service.
Protection
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| Crowned Crane, Singapore |
Secondly, “Wings” in the bible are used to symbolise strength or strength in protection:
“He will cover you with His pinions, And under His wings you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.” (Psalms 91:4)
“Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary. “ (Isaiah 40:31)
"Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.” (Matthew 23:37)
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| Shoebill, Singapore |
God does not only ensure the Provisions we need, but also the Protection. He gives us strength to accomplish the work, together with all the necessary provisions to accomplish it. It is a shame that many of us do not experience this because we are too afraid to spread our wings and soar.
Perception
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| Eagle, Singapore |
Thirdly, the Bible uses birds as object lessons on the wisdom of God. His perception of the world is perfect. It tells us to be humble, because we could not even perceive or understand the wonders of the animal kingdom and how they live.
“Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars
and spreads his wings toward the south?
Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up
and makes his nest on high?
On the rock he dwells and makes his home,
on the rocky crag and stronghold.
From there he spies out the prey;
his eyes behold it from far away.
His young ones suck up blood,
and where the slain are, there is he.”
(Job 39:26-30)
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| Australia |
Where then does wisdom come from? Where does understanding dwell?
It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing, concealed even from the birds in the sky.
Destructionb and Death say,“Only a rumor of it has reached our ears.”
God understands the way to it and he alone knows where it dwells,
(Job 28: 20-23)
God is omniscient. We cannot be too proud of our accomplishments or thinks we know what is best for us. In fact God knows me more than I do myself. The more one learns, the more one learns he has a lot more to learn. Let’s keep humble.
Presence
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| Flamingo |
Lastly, the bible says that God's eyes are everywhere and always watching us. God’s eyes are sharper and more penetrating than any bird. God not only can see all spectrum of light and sees 360 degrees, but His eyes can pierce through all our darkness and troubles right into the deepest secrets in our souls.
"For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” (1 Sam 16:7)
God is omnipresent and is always with us and we there is nothing we can hide from Him. And still even though he knows all our darkness, He still love and cares for us.
For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. (2 Chronicles 16:9)
The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good. (Proverbs 15:3)
So the next time you see a beautiful bird or even a duck, let it remind you of how a wonderful God you have. He is not only majestic in power and wisdom, but magnanimous in his provision and protection for us.
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| Great Blue Heron, Sri Lanka |
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