The World of Animals (8)

SOVEREIGNS OF THE SKIES: BIRDS

Do they not see the birds suspended in mid-air up in the sky? Nothing holds them there except Allah. There are certainly Signs in that for people who have faith. (Surat an-Nahl: 79)

Like everyone else, you have most probably wanted to fly like a bird. Looking at birds, you may think flying is easy, but it is not as easy as it seems!

A bird uses great energy when it takes wing because it has to lift all its body with its tiny wings. Yet, once it is up in the air, Allah has made it easy for it to remain aloft without expending too much effort. Birds can fly for a long time by allowing themselves to rely on the wind. This way, they hardly tire since they consume very little energy. When the effect produced by the wind diminishes, they begin to flap their wings again. By means of this feature Allah has given birds, they can cover very long distances and migrate to remote destinations.

There are bird species that can cover distances between 1000 to 40000 kilometres (621 and 24840 miles). Considering that it is 40000 kilometres (24840 miles)around the earth, you can conceive better the long distances covered by birds. Passing over the oceans, they have no chance to take a break and rest. How birds maintain their direction during their thousands of kilometres long flights still remains a mystery. Each year, birds migrate to their destinations without losing their ways. This holds true for young birds as well as adults.

It is interesting that birds' legs, so slender and little in comparison to their bodies, can carry their entire bodies. It is amazing that so many muscles, veins and nerves can exist in such a slender leg! If birds' legs were thicker and relatively more bulky, it would be more difficult for them to fly.

Almost all birds sleep on one leg. This does not upset their balance since their body weight is concentrated on this one leg. Allah has created birds with the features that enable them to maintain such a delicate balance.

One of the best sensory organs of birds is their eyes. Apart from the ability to fly, Allah has also granted birds superior sight, because, flight, which is itself a miracle, becomes extremely dangerous unless it is supported by superior sight. Birds can see objects at a distance much better than human beings and have a wider angle of vision. Noticing the dangers beforehand, they accurately determine their speed and the direction of their flight.

Birds' eyes remain fixed in the eye sockets, that is, they can't move their eyes as human beings can. However, they can widen the angle of vision by rapidly turning their heads and necks.

Furthermore, night birds such as owls have very large eyes. Some special cells in their eyes are sensitive to dim light. The vision of barred owls, for example, is 100 times keener than that of human beings. Thanks to this feature, owls can see and hunt very well at night.

The eyes of water fowl, on the other hand, have been created for clear underwater vision. While we can't keep our eyes open underwater for even 45 seconds, water birds can easily catch insects and molluscs in water as they plunge their heads into it. Since this is the only way for them to feed themselves, they must have clear vision underwater. For this reason, Allah has created a special structure in their eyes, which permits seeing underwater. Thanks to this structure, these birds don't have dim sight underwater; they see very clearly and can immediately swim towards their prey.

Hearing is also very important for birds. Some birds have eardrums that enable them to hear very low sounds. Being able to see very well in darkness and underwater and being able to hear very low sounds are abilities that human beings don't possess. Indeed, we don't need these faculties very much, because, we can readily lead our lives without them. However, it is impossible for birds to eat, feed their young, and continue their lives and their race without these abilities.

The ears of owls are very sensitive to sound. They have better hearing than human beings. There are hair-like bristles on both sides of an owls' face, which collect sound waves and send them into the inner ear. These bristles also separate one ear from the other and thus the sound coming from the right is largely heard by the right ear. Moreover, the ears are not positioned symmetrically on the head. One ear is higher than the other. So, the owl perceives the sounds from different directions and, although he does not see it, he correctly determines the location of the creature that makes the sound. This is a very important advantage in snowy weather, when it becomes hard to find prey.

Some birds produce various voices to mislead their predators. For instance, many bird species that make nests in holes in trees hiss like snakes when they are disturbed. So, predators attempting to attack the nest stay away from it, assuming that there is a snake in it.

Besides, our Lord has given some bird species webbed feet to help them swim faster when they are in water. These webbed feet are similar to flippers. If you have ever worn flippers while swimming, you will know how it helps you swim. Some species have such flippers at birth.

Some bird species build fake nests to protect their young from predators. Especially in Africa and India, animals which feed on bird eggs are legion. For this reason, African wrens protect their eggs in a real nest surrounded by many fake nests. The snakes living on trees in tropical regions are very poisonous. For this reason, the entrances to the nests of the penduline-tit colonies peculiar to that region are secret and complicated. Moreover, as another precaution, these birds make their nests on acacia trees with densely thorny branches, and deceive their predators with many empty - fake - nests.

Have you ever paid attention to the beaks of the birds that fly around us everyday? Allah created these beaks, which vary from one species to another, with very important functions. Birds' beaks have the most appropriate shapes that enable them to feed in their environments. The beaks of birds that feed on fish, for example, are generally long and ladle-shaped, making them good fishers. If the bird feeds on plants, then the beak of the bird has a perfect match with the plant on which it feeds. As these examples show, Allah's creation is flawless and complete because He gives all creatures the features they need.

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LONG-LEGGED STORKS

In the warm days of the spring, some of the large white birds we see in the sky while flying our kites are storks. The stork is a big, migratory bird that is one to one and a half metres (60 inches) in height, mostly with large white wings and a long black tail. Its beak and long legs are red, giving them a lovely appearance.

One of the most striking characteristics of storks is the way they fly. While flying, they extend their heads forward and push their legs backward. This aesthetic style of storks enables them to fly much faster by cleaving the air aerodynamically. Every year, storks migrate to warm regions because they are vulnerable to cold. That is why when we see storks arriving, we also receive the glad tidings of hot summer days. In the summer season, storks live in the temperate regions that extend from Europe to North Africa and from Turkey to Japan. Before the weather cools, they migrate to the southern hemisphere, tropical Africa and India.

It is amazing that storks know it becomes warm in the southern hemisphere at that time of the year. This is a miracle. Yet, what is more amazing is that, after six months, exactly at spring, storks fly all the way back, covering distances of thousands of kilometres, to find the nests they left behind.

This is astonishing indeed.

Storks find the nests they made the previous year and settle there again. But how do they find their old nest right away after such a long time? Do they use a compass in order not to lose their way? Of course, such a good memory and excellent sense of direction have been inspired in storks by their Lord, Allah.

In addition, these stick-legged animals do not travel overseas because they need some land on which to stop and rest when they become exhausted. For this reason, they prefer travelling across seas close to land such as the Bosphorus, the Straits of Gibraltar and the Suez Canal.

Storks do not avoid human beings and they build their nests on the tops of buildings, trees and chimneys. Usually flocks of storks migrate together. When they arrive in Europe, they spend some time there. Ordinarily, during the first week of April, the male stork builds a nest from branches. As we mentioned earlier, he chooses the same place every year. He carefully protects the nest and occasionally leaves it to search for food. Some kinds of stork make their nests in swamps on top of branches and they live in groups. You can find twelve large stork nests on the very same cypress tree. The fact that birds live in communities has been also pointed out in the Qur'an:

There is no creature crawling on the earth or flying creature, flying on its wings, who are not communities just like yourselves - We have not omitted anything from the Book - then they will be gathered to their Lord. (Surat al-An'am: 38)

Do you know how storks communicate with each other? They communicate with each other not by making different vocal sounds but by making noises with their beaks. They explain many things to each other with "tap tap" sounds.

Here is another question: do you know that storks dance? When they get together, the male stork and his spouse dance by tapping their beaks and flapping their wings. During this dance, the male stork tries to attract the female stork's attention. If you consider that a stork is almost the same height as a man, you can imagine how impressive this dance is.

Not all storks are the same height. The smallest kind of stork is the Asian and African openbill. When they close their bills, only the two ends of the bill close together. The remaining parts remain apart. This kind of beak enables the stork to eat snails and mussels more easily.

That Allah creates every living being with various capabilities in a beautiful fashion is something that helps us to have a deeper faith in Him and helps us to see His might and perfect creation in everything we see around us and to understand His signs.

A PINK BIRD: THE FLAMINGO

You have probably seen a long-necked, long-legged pink bird on TV. This bird is called the "flamingo". Flamingos leave their eggs in shallow muddy lakes. What is interesting is that the female flamingo leaves her egg in the nest she makes out of quick-drying mud.

Imagine yourself in the flamingo's shoes and assume that you want to make a nest for yourself. You need primarily to discover which type of mud dries more quickly and find where the young flamingo can hatch more easily. Meanwhile, you need to find the answers to many questions such as "is it better to put the egg under the sun or in the shade?" However, each flamingo knows how to accomplish this. Moreover, despite her long legs offering no comfort to her, she incubates for a month and waits for her young to hatch.

If you were in her shoes, would you dare to sit on the egg with your giant body? Could you estimate whether the egg would be broken, if you sat on it? Surely, it would be very difficult for you to know all these things. However, all flamingos estimate these things without planning or trial and error because, they are taught so by their Lord.

Flamingos attract our attention with their eye-catching colours and long necks, and they are also very good swimmers. Their webbed feet help them to swim. By means of these webbed feet, which have a wide flat structure, they can walk easily without sinking even on soft mud. Furthermore, the webs between their toes provide a wide surface, so that flamingos can propel themselves through the water. As we have seen, flamingos have been created with all the details necessary for their survival.

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