Billions of birds migrate north each spring and south in the autumn. Large birds, small birds and those in between make up these numbers. Many fly in great flocks, and some make the journey alone.
Included among the great companies are the tiny Tennessee warblers, which weigh only about one-half ounce. They travel 3000 miles overland every fall from Canada and the northern United States to Central and South America and then return in the spring. The wood warbler and the blackpoll follow much the same pattern, some making an 86-hour nonstop trip over water to and from South America.
However, the greatest traveler of all is the Arctic tern. Every year it makes a flight from the top to the bottom of the world and back - a total distance of over 22,000 miles!
This pretty tern is about the size of a sea gull. It has a forked tail and is completely white, except for a black cap and orange beak, legs and feet. It nests farther north than any other bird, often within 450 miles of the North Pole. There it raises its young during the spring and summer months.
In August or September the terns take off on their great trip. Most of them go to the extreme southern parts of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and on to the Antarctic Circle. Sometimes there are millions of them in these flights. Those nesting in Labrador and Greenland always fly across the Atlantic to Europe. From there, as though there were markers showing the way, they turn south to the west coast of Africa. At the foot of Africa they turn again, flying southeast to the Antarctic region. How do they know where to turn each time?
Those nesting in Alaska and Siberia go south along the Pacific Coast to Chile and Argentina. Some stay there while others continue south to the Antarctic to winter on the ice pack. Of course, our winter months are actually summer months in that part of the globe, because the seasons are reversed south of the Equator. The birds remain there until April when they return north.
The tern is mainly a fish-eater, but will include bugs and other insects. While migrating over the ocean, it will drop to the surface from time to time, catch a fish in its specially designed bill, and continue on its way without stopping.
Surely these truly miraculous trips of the Arctic tern impress us as one of the wonders of God’s creation. Over the centuries it has remained obedient to the instructions the Creator God has given it. And He wants us to obey His Word too. He warns: “Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle. . . . Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about” (Psalm 32:910). If we have accepted Him as our Saviour, our real happiness will be in obeying Him.
SEPTEMBER 29, 1996
ML-09/29/1996