zoocreation


Birds of Spring



A Creation Exhibit



Photos and text by Chad Arment, 2021



Chestnut-Sided Warbler



Black-Throated Green Warbler



Magnolia Warbler



Spring Songbird Migration in the Midwest



It's about mid-April when the songbirds start to show up here in Ohio. It follows waterfowl migration; shorebirds are also starting to increase in numbers. It's the vibrant small passerines in a myriad of colors that entice birdwatchers out in the early mornings over the next month, though. Most warblers, vireos, and the like are only passing through, heading north to rest on the shoreline of Lake Erie before pushing into Canada to their breeding grounds. Migration peaks in mid- to late-May. These birds are small, constantly in motion, and often high in the treetops, but well worth searching out with a good pair of binoculars. Because each species has its own call, you can also pick up audio tracks of warbler vocalizations and practice identifying them by ear, which is a great help in the field.



Blackburnian Warbler





Scarlet Tanager





Cape May Warbler





Prothonotary Warbler





Yellow-Rump Warbler





Nashville Warbler





Black-and-White Warbler





Bay-Breasted Warbler





Kirtland's Warbler





Migrating Season



Jeremiah 8:7 notes that birds know when to migrate ('Even the stork in the heavens knows her times, and the turtledove, swallow, and crane keep the time of their coming . . .', ESV). Warblers migrate thousands of miles, as many species winter in South America, others in Central America, Mexico, or the southern U.S. The blackpoll warbler is known to migrate as many as 12,400 miles, round trip, each year. There are hundreds of genes essential to migration, though little is known about specific gene functions. They influence the start, the timing, and direction of migration. Within a creationist model, the emergence of migration traits (behavioral, neurological, and physiological) were likely part of the rapid changes that occurred within bird kinds after the Flood in response to massive geological and climatic changes.



Palm Warbler





Prothonotary Warbler





Black-Throated Blue Warbler





Blue-Headed Vireo





Blackburnian Warbler





Rose-Breasted Grosbeak





Scarlet Tanager





Tennessee Warbler





Chestnut-Sided Warbler





Warbler Speciation



There are about 120 species of New World warblers. Within a creationist model, extensive hybridization and statistical baraminological studies point to a large monobaramin that likely includes over 1,000 species of finches, Old World and New World sparrows, New World warblers, orioles, tanagers, cardinals, and other species within the Superfamily Passeroidea. (New World warblers themselves are known for numerous examples of interspecific and intergeneric hybridization.) After the Flood, the Ark survivors of this kind literally 'filled the earth' with their offspring. The genetic potential of the Ark survivors was expressed in a diverse spectrum of physical and behavioral traits.



Northern Parula





House Wren





Prothonotary Warbler





Magnolia Warbler





American Redstart





Philadelphia Warbler





Bay-Breasted Warbler





Prothonotary Warbler





Palm Warbler





References



Berthold, P., and A. J. Helbig. 1992. The genetics of bird migrations: stimulus, timing, and direction. Ibis 134, suppl. 1: 35-40.


DeLuca, W. V., et al. 2019. A boreal songbird's 20,000 km migration across North America and the Atlantic Ocean. Ecology 100(5): e02651.


Lightner, J. 2010. Identification of a large sparrow-finch monobaramin in perching birds (Aves: Passeriformes). Journal of Creation 24(3): 117-121.


Lightner, J. 2013. An initial estimate of avian Ark kinds. Answers Research Journal 6: 409-466.


McCormick, G. 2019. Gene linked to where warblers migrate for the winter. Futurity (online)


Toews, D. P. L., et al. 2018. A wood-warbler produced through both interspecific and intergeneric hybridization. Biology Letters 14(11): 20180557.


Toews, D. P. L., et al. 2020. Genomic identification of intergeneric hybrids in New World wood-warblers (Aves: Parulidae). Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 20: 1-9.


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2021-2023





zoocreation