I should be writing about Halloween because it was celebrated just yesterday and it involved a lot of kids. But after seeing so many children on the streets for “Trick or Treat” dressed like devils, ghosts, evil spirits, and ugly monsters, I decided not to.
My idea of little children has everything to do with the good and the beautiful. I want to think of them as angels—lovable and adorable, God’s wonderful gifts to one and all.
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You, dear big little people, who are reading this—let not anyone tell you otherwise: you are blessings from heaven. You are our little angels.
So I will write instead about those delightful creatures that sing and fly like angels do: birds. Birds came to mind because we recently had our house repainted and what happened one day thoroughly broke my heart.
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It was too late for me to say, “Don’t!” The painters had already taken down a bird’s nest from our roof. It must have been an awesome nest made of twigs and hay, with some white feathers in it.
The painters dumped the ruined nest on a bush in our garden. It was a sorry sight, not at all like the sturdy nest it once was. I was sure the birds who made it their home wouldn’t want to stay in it anymore.
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“Sorry, po,” the painters apologized when they saw my sad face. “We can’t paint the roof well with a bird’s nest on it.”
What they wrecked was a work of many days and maybe even nights. To get a feeling of what it takes to build a nest, try gathering supplies from around your home to build your own version of a bird’s nest. Find some little pieces of paper, cloth, string, pebbles, shells and twigs.
Now try to join them together using simple weaving or with the help of a sticky substance like clay or play dough.
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Birds build nests to hold their babies. Nests give baby birds a safe shelter—a hideaway from predators—until they are old enough to fly on their own. A bird’s building materials depend on what types of supplies it can find: grass, soil, twigs, feathers, rocks, etc. Some birds make hundreds or thousands of trips to and from the nest just to gather building supplies piece by piece!
A bird carries these nesting items and constructs the nest with its beak. It may weave the materials or put them together using its saliva, or other sticky items like spider webs or mud.
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When we think of birds’ nest, we usually picture them on tree branches. But birds these days nest in many different places because their habitats are being destroyed by people. Now you can find nests on rooftops, eaves, and even under the ground.
Nests come in different shapes and sizes. They can look like cups or bowls on tree branches. Some hang like sacks from branches. Some nests are flat, others are round. Some nests look like piles of leaves and sticks—just like what was found on our roof!
These prove that birds are some of nature’s greatest builders!
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If ever you find a nest, please leave it alone. It took a bird so much time and lots of love to build it. Better yet, tell the adults around you to discourage people from cutting trees and destroying rainforests.
Birds need them for their nests, so they can do what they were meant to do—sing and fly!
Please visit my website: http://leavesofgrace.blogspot.com or email me at: gdchong@gmail.com