Page 58 - Devotion Among Animals Revealing the Work of God

DEVOTION AMONG ANIMALS

The cloud swifts of South America build their nests behind water-
falls, even though it is almost impossible for birds to penetrate water-
falls. Hawks, herons, gulls or crows cannot manage to break through the
fast-falling water. One would expect any bird attempting this feat to be
crushed in mid-air under the tons of water. But these swifts are very
small and fly fast enough that they can shoot through the waterfall like
arrows. Their chosen nesting sites are safe, because no other animal
dares try to reach them there.
However, these swifts do have problem in gathering building ma-
terials for their nests. Their feet are too small to let them pick up mate-
rials from the ground, as other birds do. So instead, they catch feathers,
fragments of dried grass and such materials that float in the air. Then
they stick them to the cliffs behind the waterfalls with spittle from their
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salivary glands.
Cave swiftlets inhabiting the shores of the Indian Ocean build their
nests in caves. Each wave breaking against the shore completely floods
the entrance to the cave. That is why these birds can sometimes be seen
hovering above the waves outside a cave, waiting for the foaming water
to recede, so that they can dart into the cave. Before they begin to build
their nests, swiftlets determine the highest water level by observing the
marks that water leaves on the walls around the cave entrance, and then
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build their nests above that.
The long-legged secretary bird of Africa builds its nest in prickly
thorn trees to protect it from predators. Woodpeckers in the American
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Southwest drill nesting holes in the stems of giant cactus plants; while
the marsh wrens, on the other hand, prepares dummy nests. While the
female is building the real nest for their young, the male wren flies
around the marsh, building the decoy nests that will draw predators' at-
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tention away from their real one.

Albatross Nests

Almost every species of bird is greatly dedicated to its young. To

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