Summary

For the Birds Word on the Week 24th May 2025.
This week I had the Bird identifier app added to my smartphone to distinguish between the many bird calls that make up the dawn chorus. They tune up around 4.30 and so far have defeated my best endeavors to identify them!
Deciphering who is out there will have to wait. Let me introduce you instead to my childhood friend, the Fulmar. They are the friendliest of seabirds, consummate gliders whose curiosity made them hover on the breeze at the top of the sea cliff only a few feet away from where I would be lying.
Wind is their fuel, when it is calm they sit on the sea but given the slightest wind they soar with scarcely a wing-beat. This conservation of energy enables them to travel great distances. These flights have been measured using GPS and geolocator equipment.
Their nest is a simple hollow in the clay, created in April for the solitary white egg which arrives in May and is incubated by both parents. In taking turns to sit on the egg the birds show considerable understanding. The constant need for food may mean one parent is usually absent for a number of days.
The fulmars have been ringed for research purposes. One bird known by its number 1568 was studied during the nesting season. When his turn came to leave the nest in Eynhallow the weather was calm and 1568 rested for a couple of days on the sea North of the Orkney Isles. The wind picked up and he flew for 11 hours to the Faroes where he fed.
Instead of returning to the nest to resume his duties he flew fast out across the North Atlantic for over two days reaching speeds of 40 mph plus. He travelled 2,500 miles in 55 hours! He was heading for the rich waters around a mountainous and broken section of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
He spent 3 days gorging on the plentiful supply of fish. He was now a long way from the nest and neglecting his parental duties! There were strong Easterlies which forced him to travel South-East making landfall near Galway. He then followed the old Viking route completing the 3,900-mile journey in 2 weeks.
After a moment or two together (we do not know what was said) the mate left for her own voyage and 1568 tucked his head under his wing and went to sleep. The Lord, who knows when a sparrow falls, was with him all the way! (Matthew 10 verse 29).
Our navigation equipment is the Word of God. What does it say? If you declare with your mouth “Jesus is Lord” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10 verses 9 and 10).
Guidance is not just ‘For the Birds’ – follow Jesus.