We usually think that most birds are beautiful, but some of them deserve more than just a quick look because of unusual features of their heads. A few are so unusual that we might wonder why God made them that way.
One of these is the hoatzin of Venezuela, about the size of a turkey. Its head is a vivid blue with large, bright-red, black-bordered eyes and a large pointed beak. Its most distinctive feature is a high crown of long feathers from its forehead to the back of its neck. The shorter feathers are pinkish-yellow and the longer ones lean forward above the rest in a scraggly mixture of yellow, red and black. Some call it the strangest bird in the world.
In South Africa, the crowned crane usually holds its head very high atop a long neck. Beneath its head a large, blood-red wattle (a hanging flap of flesh) drapes across its neck to meet velvety black hairs of whiskers that reach on up to its long, pointed beak. This all finally forms a big cap of black over its head. But that's not all. It also has a wide, tall crown of thin, black-tipped lavender feathers reaching high above its colorful head. It is really a spectacular sight!
Another bird with an odd head is the king vulture of southern Mexico. Its head is a vivid red on top, down to the back of its neck. It has large, white eyes and black pupils framed in the same deep red. In addition, a strange growth, like a long, thin arm with long, warty fingers, stretches across the back of its head, pressing down on black hairs on the sides and front of its head to the base of the beak. This beak is covered with a shapeless mass of bulgy, warty flesh, mostly bright orange.
Still another is the ocellated turkey of Mexico. Its tall, sky-blue head is held upright. It has a short, white and yellow beak with a blue rope-like wattle with red tips draped over it, looking like a long, woolen stocking. Its blue head has large, dark eyes set in wide collars of deep red. Even more unusual is a large number of marble-size lumps, yellow and red, that seem to have been stuck on various parts of its head and neck. But most of them are in a big cluster at the very peak of the high dome of its head.
We might ask the question, Did the Creator have a reason for giving these birds such odd heads? Yes, we're sure He did. Many things in His creation that may seem odd to us demonstrate His creative power and remind us that He took pleasure in what He created. The Bible verse at the beginning tells us this.