bar-tailed godwit Archives - DOES GOD EXIST? TODAY

May 9, 2024May 7, 2024

Bar-tailed Godwit Migration

In October 2022, a small bird set a new world record for long-distance flying as it flew nonstop from its hatching ground in Alaska to its wintering ground in Tasmania. This bird did not land, eat, or drink for 250 hours (eleven days) as it flew at an average ground speed of 30 miles per hour, traveling from one end of the Earth to the other. The only human-made machine that can do that is a Boeing 777 with a 213-foot wingspan and powerful jet engines. The bird was a bar-tailed godwit.

Bar-tailed godwits, as scientists have discovered, are well-equipped for their long-distance journeys. They possess a high metabolic rate and a physiological tolerance for elevated cortisol levels. However, it is their feather design that truly enables them to undertake these arduous journeys. The feathers of a bar-tailed godwit provide insulation, keeping the bird warm even in cold air masses. They also repel rain, and their shape is conducive to long flight hours, aiding the bird’s forward propulsion.

In recent years, scientific research on feathers has shown that they are perfectly engineered for a wide variety of uses. The feathers of a penguin are different from those of a hummingbird. The reason should be obvious, as these two birds live in very different environments. Fossil remains have shown that many dinosaurs had feathers. They used them to catch insects, keep warm, facilitate swimming or feeding in water, and attract mates. Those of us who believe there is design and purpose in all living things are not surprised by these discoveries. A contractor building a house will use materials that work in all kinds of houses, modifying them to fit the particular building under construction. In the same way, God uses materials to meet the needs of His organisms in various ways we are only beginning to understand.

Skeptics have questioned why God would design organisms to travel such immense distances. Does He have something against bar-tailed godwits? In this case, these birds benefit two environments with minimal resources. Alaska doesn’t have large amounts of topsoil to supply the needs of its plants. Tasmania is an island state of Australia, located 150 miles south of the mainland. Like Alaska, Tasmania has limited natural resources, but the arrival of the bar-tailed godwit brings nutrients that allow life to flourish on this island. The design of feathers makes that possible.

God sustains isolated environments by having lifeforms travel between them or from nutrient-rich areas to areas lacking those nutrients. God sustains the Earth by migrations of everything from insects to sea life to birds to large mammals. Traveling between needy areas sustains those areas and the lifeforms that travel between them.

Reference: Scientific American for May 2024, pages 41-51

April 25, 2022April 24, 2022

The Incredible Journeys of Birds

One of the great examples of design that we see in the natural world is the ability of birds to migrate thousands of miles from one area of the world to another. In the past, we have reviewed several of these incredible journeys of birds.

Bar-tailed godwits hold the record, with some individuals traveling over 8100 miles without food or rest and covering 7000 miles one way in nine days. We are also amazed by Hudsonian godwits, arctic terns, and many other birds. Even the Ruby-Throated Hummingbird is amazing, flying 600 miles across the Gulf of Mexico non-stop with wings beating 50 times per second.

Our knowledge of bird migration has improved with the advent of microchips and new technology to track movements and analysis of bird DNA. Even so, there are still unanswered questions. For example, how do birds prepare their bodies for flight? How do birds know when to migrate? How do migrating birds find their way? How do birds sleep on long migratory flights? These are just a few of many questions researchers are looking to answer about the incredible journeys of birds.

The National Audubon Society published a special issue of their excellent magazine for spring 2022. This issue is the best we have seen on the design and behavior of birds. It is impossible to read through this magazine and not be impressed with the wisdom and design built into the world of birds. It also challenges us to realize the importance of caring for God’s creatures as human encroachment threatens many birds’ survival.

In Job 39:13-18 and 26 – 30, God challenges Job to understand His creation, including birds. Scientists are still feeling that challenge today. We are just beginning to know how much design is built into the incredible journeys of birds.

For more on this go to audubon.org or read their article on bird migration.

March 30, 2022March 29, 2022

Birds Navigate Across Oceans Using Quantum Effects

Over the years, we have spoken several times about the migration of birds as an example of God’s design in the creation. The Bar-tailed Godwit seems to be the champion of long-distance travel flying, traveling 7,450 miles (12,000 km) nonstop across the Pacific Ocean from Alaska to New Zealand. Many other bird species make similar long-distance journeys. The question we wonder about is how birds navigate across oceans thousands of miles with no landmarks. How do they know when to make the journey, and how do they manage the energy requirements of such a long flight.

Modern research has shown migrating birds have a compass that relies on quantum effects built into their eyes. These quantum effects use something called “radical pairs” that form photochemically to allow them to see the Earth’s magnetic field lines. Earth’s magnetic field is very weak, especially in equatorial areas. So any normal effect from the magnetic field would not have enough strength to contribute to navigation, but birds navigate across oceans and over the equator.

Retinal cells in the bird’s eye contain proteins called cryptochromes that contain a molecule called flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD). Tryptophan amino acid stabilizes the FAD, so the molecules are electrically neutral. When a photon of blue light reaches the FAD, a quantum release of electrons makes a radical pair. The electron spin of the radical pair is so sensitive that the Earth’s magnetic field influences it. The bird’s brain detects the quantum changes allowing it to know its flight direction.

This is a simplified explanation of a very complex process by which birds navigate across oceans. Researchers Peter J. Hore and Henrik Mouritsen wrote, “When you next see a small songbird, pause for a moment to consider that it might recently have flown thousands of kilometers, navigating with great skill using a brain weighing no more than a gram. The fact that quantum spin dynamics may have played a crucial part in its journey only compounds the awe and wonder with which we should regard these extraordinary creatures.” We would add to that statement “…and the God who designed them, giving them this amazing ability.”

Reference: “How Migrating Birds Use Quantum Effects to Navigate” Scientific American April 2022.

December 10, 2020December 9, 2020

God’s Diversity of Birds

An interesting study involves the biblical classifications of living things. Genesis doesn’t talk about species — it talks about broad groupings. For example, “the flesh of fish” and “the flesh of birds” (1 Corinthians 15:39 and Genesis 1:20-21) includes a wide range of species with many adaptions to particular environments. There is no better example of adaptation than what we see in God’s diversity of birds.

The December 5, 2020, issue of Science News featured a discussion of recent studies into the genomes of modern birds. called the “Bird 10,000 Genomes Project.” An international team of researchers has published the genomes for 363 species of birds, covering roughly 92% of all modern bird families. The scientists in the project are determined not to stop until they have published the genomes of all bird species on Earth.

This diversity is amazing. There are flightless birds like emus, kiwis, and penguins. Some birds are carnivores, and others are herbivores. Other birds have very limited and specialized diets. Some have wide ranges, and others, such as the Henderson crake, are found only on one island in the South Pacific. The most practical aspect of this study is learning how to protect bird species to preserve diversity. All creatures on Earth have properties important to humans, so this research is critical.

God didn’t create 10,000 species of birds independently of one another. He created “fowl,” and the Bible mentions several different species. The bird genomes allowed them to adapt to different environments. Those environments could support other forms of life only because birds supply nutrients and resources that make life possible. Bird migrations can provide the needs for environments thousands of miles apart. The Arctic tern and the bar-tailed godwit are excellent examples of that. Birds not only supply the needs of plants, but their eggs provide food for a variety of animals.

God has used diversity to supply the entire planet with life. Romans 1: 20 tells us that we can know there is a God by the things He has made. We see incredible wisdom and design built into God’s diversity of birds.

You can find the article in Science News HERE and the research report in Nature HERE.

March 27, 2018September 7, 2018

Bird Migration Data

A fascinating area of study is bird migration. With new technologies, scientists are gathering more bird migration data than ever before.

Arctic terns spend their summers in Alaska and migrate thousands of miles to wintering grounds in South America. Years ago researchers demonstrated that the tern didn’t get the migration information from its parents because terns raised in isolation having no contact with other terns could still make the journey. Terns deprived of visual acuity could still make the journey, so the migration was not by landmarks. The Earth’s magnetic field was not the method because terns equipped with a magnetic scrambler could still make the journey. Similar tests showed it was not by smell or by sound. The researchers concluded that the tern used several navigation tools. If one was lost, the bird would switch to another. We suggested that such a complex system was not a product of chance. It is designed into the tern’s DNA suggesting that God had something to do with the design.

In the March 2018 issue of National Geographic, there is an excellent article titled “Epic Migrations.” Scientists use new tools to collect bird migration data that enables a much more precise understanding of both short and long migrations. Nearly half of all bird species are migratory, so there are a large number of species to study, and scientists are gathering new data continuously.

The long-distance winner of migration is the bar-tailed godwit. One specimen flew 7,150 miles non-stop in eight days from its summering grounds in Alaska to its wintering grounds in New Zealand. In the weeks before migration, godwits build up enormous layers of fat adding more than half their body weight. When they arrive in New Zealand, they have lost all of the fat reserves. Because they do not glide or soar in the journey, their wings are beating all the time. On the way back to Alaska, the birds travel 6,000 miles to China near the Yellow Sea where they spend six weeks. Then they fly 4000 miles back to Alaska. Their departure time for these trips is the same from year to year, influenced only by local weather and winds. They seem to be guided by a precise clock.

Researchers have found an assortment of interesting bird migration data. Studies of frigatebirds in the Pacific show that they sleep while soaring, but only for about 12 seconds at a time for a total of 42 minutes a day. Research shows that half of the bird’s brain is asleep and the other half is awake. Other studies have shown that European starlings use the Sun as a compass and that indigo buntings use stars as a compass. European robins use an internal magnetic compass. When researchers artificially rotated the magnetic compasses by 90 degrees, the birds flew the wrong direction until the Sun came up. Then they reset their magnetic compasses using the Sun for orientation.

Each species of migratory birds seems to have their own built-in devices to make their journeys. The programming of their DNA is incredibly complex and seems to be a designed characteristic built into each species. We can learn a great deal about God by observing the world around us, and truly “we can know there is a God through the things He has made” (Romans 1:20).
–John N. Clayton © 2018