Bird nests come in a great variety of sizes and shapes. Hummingbirds build tiny nests, 1.5 inches in diameter. By comparison, a new eagles’ nest may be 3 feet wide, but, because they add new material every year, an old nest may be 10 to 20 feet wide. Storks add new material to their large nests every year too. A lady told of hanging a pair of man’s socks outside to dry, and when she went to get them later, she found a bird was using one of them for a nest and had already laid two eggs in it. And a farmer who found his lost ball of string, which had an opening in its center, discovered that it was now a nest with three baby wrens inside.
Many seabirds lay their eggs on bare, rocky ledges and sit on them until the baby birds hatch. The penguins have an unusual nesting arrangement. The female lays just one egg right on the bare ice. She scoops the egg onto her overlapping webbed feet and turns it over occasionally. When the little one finally hatches, it is kept warm in the same spot on the parent’s feet until it develops enough feathers to come out into the open.
Cliff swallows make their nests out of mud. They plaster one beakful of mud at a time against the side of a barn or the bare cement of an overhanging bridge.
Flamingos also use mud to make their nests. A large area of mud flats alongside a seashore will often be covered with hundreds of their high-walled nests. These nests are all close together and look exactly alike, but the birds always find their own. The female makes her nest while sitting in the mud with legs folded under her. Then beakfuls of mud are placed in a circle a few inches wider than her body. She eventually forms a circular wall all around herself that looks like a tiny open-top mountain. After this hardens, she lays just one egg. Both parents take turns incubating it for about a month, until the baby bird hatches.
There are hundreds of other kinds of nests, all telling of the wonders of God’s creation. He is the One who has provided birds with both instincts and abilities to build just the right kind of nest for their individual needs.
The Lord God, the Creator of all things, watches over everything He has created. The Bible often tells of His care of birds. One verse gave special instructions to the children of Israel: “If a bird’s nest chance to be before thee . . . in any tree, or on the ground . . . thou shalt not take the [mother bird] with the young” (Deuteronomy 22:66If a bird's nest chance to be before thee in the way in any tree, or on the ground, whether they be young ones, or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young, or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young: (Deuteronomy 22:6)).
Did you know the Lord God also watches over you all the time?
ML-06/10/2018