Your neck may become stiff. Finding warblers requires looking up!

Set your clock.

Oh, right, the clock sets itself. Well, check your calendar. Circle the first days of May. Oh, right, your calendar is on your device. Sorry, mine’s still on paper. But calendars or watches are not our subject, birds are.

Surprised? Creatorwords is about creation.

Our creation topic this time is a small bird. One of the warbler family members, the Yellow-rumped Warbler is one of more than 75 different kinds of North American birds in this group scientifically known as Parulidae.

Yellow-rumped Warblers are large warblers. Within the first 8 to 10 May calendar days this little bird makes its return to the north during spring migration. But that is relative, they range in size from 4.75 to 5.5 inches long. Less than half a ruler…and they weigh even less: about 12-13 grams. Remember paper clips? If you do 1 gram is equal to a regular paper clip…this Warbler weighs about 12-13 regular paper clips. You don’t remember do you? Well, back to the nickel. Put two nickels together, hold them and feel the weight. Two nickels=1 Yellow-rumped Warbler.

How can a complete set of lungs, a tiny heart, a bird brain, blood vessels and arteries, a skeletal system, a pair of eyes that have seen things human eyes never see, and a digestive system complete with a food grinding gizzard fit into a body which weighs 2 nickels?

Some humans live in two or more places, one place in cold weather, a second in warm weather. Yellow-rumped Warblers divide their time between Canada in the nesting season (over 70% nest in Canada) and the southern states, into Mexico. Some even winter in Central America. What do you imagine their Warbler eyes see in twice a yearly migration? What storms do they experience? How about beautiful sunrise and sunset?

There are benefits to being a Yellow-rumped Warbler.

Upon arriving in Canada always about the middle to late May, a pair of Yellow-rumped Warblers (YRWA) will begin the seasonal mission they expended so much energy for: nest building and egg laying. YRWA pairs team up on a nest. It takes up to 10 days. Twigs, pine needles, moose or deer hair and a lining of moss and lichen make the nest which is always from 3-4 inches wide and two inches high. Always. Ever wonder why birds always build their nests the same way-even from one generation to the next? How do they know?

Humans may switch to more soup in their winter diets. Soup is good food. YRWA reveal a highly specialized digestive system, it allows them to overwinter in places where there are plants with berries, berries with a waxy coating on them. While YRWA consume large quantities of insects during spring and summer, they switch to berries when cold weather puts insects in cocoons, or eggs underground. Does it seem like wax could be digestible? The YRWA and Ruby Crowned Kinglet are able to digest the berries the Wax Myrtle shrub produces. In fact, another name for the YRWA is the Myrtle Warbler.

You can learn a lot from birds. We can even discover things about ourselves.

Remember Job? He’s the man who lost his kids, and his wealth in one day and his health shortly after that. He knew how these things came to be. He knew the only power able to impact him like this belonged to God…and He did not curse God. He knew even animals and birds provided clear proof that God is the Creator of all things. He knew God is sovereign.

Look at the Yellow-rumped warbler…ever tried eating wax? Would you know when to fly hundreds of miles north in spring to arrive after snow melt at the time when the first insects are once again moving about after winter? They do not need a clock or calendar. Can you see the great order, the intricate system all structured to maintain life on earth? Need some help? Read the words of Job.

But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? Job 12:7-9

The colors of fall appear in spring-time, and warblers are on the move.

Ask the Animals or Birds-May Edition

Set your clock.

Surprised? Creatorwords is about creation.

There are benefits to being a Yellow-rumped Warbler.

You can learn a lot from birds. We can even discover things about ourselves.

But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? Job 12:7-9

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