It's Time To Go

Good morning. It is Thursday, September 9, 2021

Several months ago, I wrote about two osprey nests on an old bridge crossing the Rogue River. The old bridge arches were left in place when a new bridge was built allowing the birds to return each year. One nest is always occupied by a pair of Canada Geese and the other a pair of Osprey.

The geese leave early in the season, but the Osprey stay all summer.

Each morning I see the adult Osprey caring for their young and each evening I see them as well. This little game if I Spy goes on for months. Last night as I returned home from work, I saw no Osprey in the nest. I thought, ‘awe, it must be time; the birds have flown the nest.’ It caused just a twinge of sadness. This morning however, from a short distance, I could see two birds in the nest; I smiled. But, as I got closer, I realized they were two very large crows poking around in the basket of entwined sticks, a sure sign that the Osprey have flown south for the winter.

Last week, as the staff took our morning walk, a very large flock of Canada geese flew overhead. Some say geese flying south this early is a sign of a cold winter.

I am truly fascinated by nature. God has given us so much beauty to enjoy. And He has programmed into animals and bird’s patterns and habits that science cannot explain.

For instance: how do geese know where to go? Believe it or not, nobody fully understands how bird’s migratory navigation works. There are currently several competing theories. Some theorists believe that birds have a kind of olfactory “map” that helps them smell their way home. Others believe that birds orient themselves using the earth’s magnetic field. Source varmentguard.com

Believers in a Creator-God know full well the why and how. God programmed them as such. It really is not that big of a mystery, but you must first believe in a Creator.

Ospreys nest in spring and summer throughout much of North America. Watch for them along rivers, lakes, bays, and coastlines (and bridge arches). Most are migratory, heading south in September. Ospreys may log more than 160,000 air miles over a lifetime. Thanks to miniature satellite transmitters, we know a lot more about their travels.

One female Osprey, which researchers named Penelope, started south — alone — in early September from Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. She paused in coastal Maryland and North Carolina for a few days, then flew directly over the Atlantic from the Outer Banks to the Bahamas. The crossing took her more than 24 hours.

But she wasn’t done yet. For the next several days, Penelope hopped islands in the Bahamas and paused in the nearby Dominican Republic. Then she set out on another day-long flight, taking her to the Island of Birds, off the Venezuelan coast. At this point she had already covered nearly 3,000 miles. After a side trip to the Amazon, Penelope spent the winter on a remote jungle river in Suriname. Watch for Ospreys next spring, nesting near you. Source audubon.org

A scientific project in 2013 by the National Parks of New York Harbor Conservancy used a solar-powered GPS device and showed just how fast an osprey is capable of flying during spring migration. An osprey named Coley travelled approximately 2,600 miles over 15 days from Ciénaga Pajaral, or Bird Marsh, on the northern tip of the Republic of Colombia, situated near Panama, to reach the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in New York City. The bird traveled nearly nonstop at almost 173 miles per day. Source savecoastalwildlife.org

Isn’t that truly amazing! The birds we watch during the summer have made an incredible journey at incredible speeds. And it all started in Genesis 1.

And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.