Warblers are well named, defined by the dictionary as “small songbirds that sing in a trilling manner.” This means their songs have a long run of notes that run up and down quickly and with many variations.
There are about 125 varieties of warblers. Most of them spend the summer months in North America and the rest of the year in Central and South America and a few other tropical areas. They are small birds, about the size of a sparrow or a little smaller. All are very active and have cheerful warblings, although their songs are not all the same. There is a great variety of pretty colors among them, including red, yellow, blue, greenish-gray, yellow-green and orange, with many having black and white accents.
Warblers are a real help to us. They eat caterpillars, moths, plant lice, aphids and other insects that are harmful to growing crops and flowers. Farmers are pleased when these birds nest nearby.
Their food is obtained in a variety of ways, and the beaks of each kind have been designed by the Creator to best serve each of them. For instance, the long, slender bill of the blue-winged variety easily penetrates buds and flowers for insects that are otherwise hard to reach. The American redstart has a flat bill which helps it capture insects flying through the air. Each kind of warbler’s beak, legs, feet and wings are designed in ways which only the Creator could do for its individual pattern of life. Many find insects in foliage while walking on the ground; others find their food while flying; some, like the black-and-white species, hunt their prey on tree trunks and branches. The Creator gave them strong claws on their feet so they could cling to the side of a tree.
Nests are mostly cup-shaped in trees or shrubs, but a few build them on the ground or in rocky areas. The females construct the nests in which they usually lay four eggs, incubating them for nearly two weeks. When the little ones are hatched, both parents feed them for another two or three weeks before their feathers are developed and they are able to fly away on their own.
These cheerful birds, with their great variety of songs, would surely thank God for His goodness if they were able to. Perhaps King David was thinking of this when he wrote, “Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord” (Psalm 150:66Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. (Psalm 150:6)). But he knew birds could not do this with their voices and added in the same verse, “Praise ye the Lord.”
We surely should praise Him for His wonderful works and His goodness in dying on Calvary’s cross for the sins of everyone who will accept Him as his or her personal Saviour. Have you thanked Him for that work of love?
DECEMBER 13, 1998
ML-12/13/1998