Category: Kids

We have a magpie nest near our bedroom window, which is absolutely fascinating to watch.

How clever do you think the average bird is? On a scale of 1 – 10 maybe a 4, compared to we humans. OK, so let’s set a competition between so called dumb birds and we very intelligent humans. Have you ever tried to make a bird’s nest? You will need some short twigs, maybe some ivy to join it all together and some nice soft moss to line the finished product. You go searching for twigs and now have a fine collection. To make it fair, I will allow you to make the nest in some sort of bucket shape to mimic the branches of a tree. How are you going to get the twigs to join together, rather than falling in an untidy heap? Perhaps you could wind some ivy round the twigs and weave a kind of basket. That might work and bird’s nests do look a bit like that. It needs to be strong enough for 2 adult birds to sit on the edge (and flap about a bit) and have several eggs, then restless chicks inside.

The problem now is that I’m not going to let you use your hands! You will have to make it with your teeth! Well, we need to make this competion fair and birds mainly use their beaks!

Have you given up yet? Thinking about this has given me a lot more respect for the inborn intelligence of birds in general. But where did this knowledge come from to build a nest every year. Probably not bird school, attended by every fledgling for two weeks full time!

Our heavenly Father has given birds an ability to just “know” how to build a nest and to get it right most of the time, otherwise we wouldn’t see many birds of any kind. We live in an incredibly complex world where animals just “do“ all manner of amazing things. God cares for birds and the rest of his creation, including you. We need to give him our thanks and praise.