"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? She dwelleth and abideth on the rock,
upon the crag of the rock, and the strong place. From thence she
seeketh the prey, and her eyes behold afar off Her young ones
also suck up blood: and where the slain are, there is she."
Job 39:26-30
As part of the lesson for Job, on how things came
into being, God chose to include this passage on the "eagle."
This teaching includes a little about the nesting capability with
which God designed this bird. When we look at the birds, we can
witness many things that should lead to a renewed awe and reverence
for God the Creator. Let's look at just a few examples of what
God has designed for these creatures and learn to glorify God
as our Creator as well.
The nest building ability of birds has marveled
mankind for thousands of years. The methods, materials, and locations
that they use to construct their nests are just about as varied
as the birds themselves. The nest has one basic purpose, that
of giving a place for the young to be raised. These structures
can be huge and reused and rebuilt year after year - as in the
case of the Eagles, Hawks, and most other raptors. Or, they can
be small and inconspicuous and just barely able to hold a single
egg - as in the case of the Lessor Tree Swift. The materials for
the nests go from sticks, rocks, and mud - all the way to little
other than the birds' own saliva and feathers. It may include
plant materials, man-made objects, and even spider silk to help
in the construction.
The Tailorbird, a type of warbler found in Southeast
Asia, uses its skills as sewers to construct its nest. Using a
single leaf or two adjoining leaves, it begins by using spider
silk to wrap around the leaf to pull the sides together; then,
it punches holes in the leaf margin using its beak. Then, finding
plant stems, bark fibers, cottony seed fibers, or spider silk,
it sews the "threads" through the holes and teases ends
into a ball or crimps them so the two sides are "riveted"
together rather than being "knotted" as some have reported.
These nests are almost impossible to find as they hang in the
trees looking just like other leaves. Amazing how these animals
learned how to do that by "time and chance," isn't it?
The Rufous Ovenbird of South America constructs
a strong complex two-chambered mud nest on tree stumps and other
projections. These structures, about the size of a football, have
a domed entrance which leads through a chamber around to the inner
lined chamber. The Lesser Tree Swift nest is so small that the
egg itself just barely fits inside. The mother and the baby, after
hatching, must stand on the branch for support; and the baby does
fine after just a few hours.
The nests of many of the Wren family of birds
are dome-shaped and are insulated with as many as 2,000 feathers
from the mother's body. They incorporate many very soft materials
that allow the nest to expand as the brood inside the cavity grows.
This flexibility of the nest lets some of the natives of the African
country, where they live, to use them as purses. The Edible-nest
Swiftlets build their nests with nothing other than their own
saliva which hardens into a crusty, thin nest. These nests are
collected and used for a traditional Chinese food "Bird's
Nest soup."
Indeed, as the Psalmist has noted, "... the
sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself
where she may lay her young ...," Psalm 84:3. We should look
to the birds and see the incredible intelligence God has shown
as He created the things around us! -Rt 1 Box 116A, Belington,
WV 26250.