

Not All Birds Are Created Equal
“May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus…” — Romans 15:5 Like many beginning birders, when I first flipped through a field guide and saw how many warblers there were, I thought I’d never be able to identify them all, particularly those on that page ominously titled “confusing fall warblers.” Over time I came to realize that their diversity was a gift, there were multiple field marks to disti


What Are You Waiting For?
Make sure that you don’t get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. The night is about over, dawn is about to break. Be up and awake to what God is doing!~ Romans 13:11-12 (The Message) Big Day birding requires a rather unique form of observation. Your attention must be laser-focused, but if you are too intent on the predetermined target a few things are likely to happen. For


The Call of the Wild
Let the sea and all within it thunder; the world and all its peoples. Let the rivers clap their hands and the hills ring out their joy before YHWH, who comes to judge the earth, who will rule the world with justice and its peoples with equity. ~ Psalm 98:8-9 Though I will always be “from away,” I’m sure that even the most firmly established Mainer has to experience at least a slight chill at the call of the Common Loon. That ethereal, haunting yodel cannot fail to pierce the


Persistent Patience
Listen here, mortal: God has already made abundantly clear what “good” is, and what YHWH needs from you: simply do justice, love kindness, and humbly walk with your God. ~ Micah 6:8 Have you ever watched an egret or heron fish? If so, you likely either noticed the lightning strike that speared the prey, or you didn’t know that the bird was even fishing. When one of these waders is hunting you would be forgiven for thinking it was resting, or possibly not even a living bird si


Crow Funerals
Then Allah sent a crow scratching the ground to show him how to cover the dead body of his brother. He said: Woe is me! Am I not able to be as this crow and cover the dead body of my brother? So he became of those who regret. Quran 5:31 Crows are quite intelligent. They are capable of recognizing individuals, not only others of their species, but they demonstrated the ability to remember humans who have posed a threat or provided food. They have been trained to collect litter