Bird Brains ... Fascinating!

God uses birds to teach, if only we will learn from the birds ... doves .. eagles ... we can learn a lot from these "bird brains."

Although there are more tha
9,000 bird species in the world, still blue jays do not mate with cardinals, nor do robins mate with sparrows.

Birds have been known to cross breed, but only rarely and then only under specific conditions, and nearly always instigated by human intervention. All those bird species are genetically different from one another. For example, you can find all kinds of different sparrows, and they look pretty much the same, but there are differences, so no, they do not cross breed.

All birds have to work for their food, and they whistle while they work—at least, they start their day that way, because they cannot whistle and carry worms and insects in their beaks at the same time!

Yes, God provides for their needs, but they still have to go and find what they need to build their nests, feed their young, etc. They care for their own and provide for them. They don't depend on other birds to do it for them. Nor do they expect a government hand-out or bail-out!

And all the while they're being good parents, they have to keep an eye out for predators, and so they instinctively locate their nests in the safest places they can find—a lot of human parallels here!

They also have to watch the weather and can tell when bad weather is in the offing, as they have a kind of built in "radar." Just as humans can smell rain in the air and read the clouds, birds seem to be just as sensitive—as are many other animals as well.

As a general rule, it was thought that birds were monogamous beings, but it turns out that they are not necessarily so. Even though the romantic rituals of birds has inspired the more poetic among us, including songwriters and ad writers, it was only until recently that it was thought that birds don't cheat on their mates, but it turns out that they also have this human weakness.

Those "bird brains" also are pretty smart. For example, on a college campus in Japan, carrion crows have learned to follow traffic lights. They actually walk into the street and drop walnuts when they have the light. Then they fly off and wait for the cars to drive over and crack the nuts when they have the light.

Again they walk out with the light and pick up their freshly cracked meal and fly away with it!

If the cars miss the nuts, next time they have the light, they will reposition the walnuts ... or they may even drop them onto the street from overhead wires.

I hate to say it, but some people do not have the intelligence God gave a crow!

Crows are known to be among the most intelligent of birds. There are others—along with some primates—which are known to use "tools" to dig out food. But what is highly unusual among crows is that, not only do they use tools, but they make them as well! Yes! With their beaks, which serve as both snippers and scissors, the carve twigs into hooks and rakes and even use stiffer, leather-like leaves to make combs. They are more inventive and self sufficient than a lot of people today!

And after going to all that trouble, they keep the tools they make and carry them along on their food gathering missions. They have more sense than a lot of people today!