Look at the Migratory Birds of Israel

  

                               Cranes in flight, Israel 

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?

 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?  And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to your span of life?

Matthew 6: 25-27 NRSVue 

“But ask the animals, and they will teach you,
    the birds of the air, and they will tell you;
8 ask the plants of the earth,[a] and they will teach you,
    and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
9 Who among all these does not know
    that the hand of the Lord has done this?
10 In his hand is the life of every living thing
    and the breath of every human being.

Job 12:7-10 NRSVue

Jesus encouraged us to pay attention to birds and so did the writer of the Hebrew scripture book of Job. We take that seriously at our home with a number of feeders which reward us with daily sightings of these remarkable creatures. While rambling about as Spring unfolds in Southern Ontario we've seen bald eagles, a blue heron, ospreys, and wood ducks -- all encouraging signs of the change of seasons. 

We are in Israel at the moment and it is Spring here as well. This means lots of migratory birds because this region is the meeting place of three continents, Africa, Asia, and Europe, making this one of the most important flyways on Earth.  It's estimated that as many as half a billion birds make their way northward at this time of year, although their is evidence that numbers are dropping alarmingly. 

We really should pay attention to the birds because they are all the "canary in the coalmine", signalling a catastophic change in climate and habitat. As serious as this threat is, rather than worry, or ignore what is unfolding, we can act with purpose for the wellbeing of Creation.