The pigeon-sized cock-of-the-rock is found in the Amazon region of northern Brazil. The outstanding color of the male is orange-red, and his head is topped with an orange, helmet-like crest. Wing feathers are contrasting dark brown and blue. He is an outstandingly beautiful bird.
In contrast, young chicks are anything but beautiful. They have fuzzy black hair, bare legs and wings that look like a coarse comb. However, in a year’s time they have the same plumage as the adults.
Because of the male’s fighting attitude towards anything that approaches its nesting area, it is well named cock-of-the-rock. This fighting attitude makes him quick to challenge another male bird, especially when one trespasses into another’s territory or when they are both trying to win the same female at an event called a lek.
At the time of the lek, several male and female birds come together in a clearing. The females are off to one side, while the males, one by one, approach with their pretty feathers fluffed out. They dance with steps and hops, fluffing out their pretty light-blue wings below the orange body feathers.
The females make their choice of a mate, and the pair leaves to find a place to build a nest of mud and sticks in the trees or on a rocky ledge. The female, whose feathers are plain brown, often builds the nest by herself and incubates the eggs and raises her young without any help. Meanwhile, the selfish male is enjoying a care-free life, showing off his feathers as he flies through the forest.
Males in combat lock powerful talons together, jab at each other with their wings, and sometimes lock beaks. These matches may last two or three hours. If neither can claim himself a winner, they seem to agree to rest before fighting again until one is defeated.
We may be sure that when these beautiful birds were created, they were not proud and vicious as they are now. When God created them and the other birds on the fifth day of His creation, the Bible states, “God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:2121And 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. (Genesis 1:21)). What happened to change them? It was sin coming into the world through Satan, and he has never changed from his evil ways. The Bible warns us, “Be sober, be vigilant [watchful]; because your adversary [enemy] the devil, as a roaring lion, [walks] about, seeking whom he may devour [destroy]” (1 Peter 5:88Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: (1 Peter 5:8)).
We can only resist Satan and his evil ways by placing our trust in the Lord Jesus and asking Him to lead us in His ways. Have you done this?
ML-07/01/2001