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The bowerbird, which is one of the birds that paint their nests, is a real
“master of architecture”. The size of a male bowerbird is like that of a pi-
geon. While building its nest, it arranges hundreds of thin branches in two
lines each facing one another. This way it builds a bower. It piles up all the
stuff it picks from the environment in front of this bower. This may even be
a butterfly's wing, a bird's feather, a car key or some wrapping paper. This
bird is particularly interested in blue objects. As you can see in the picture
on the other page, it has gathered all the blue objects it could find in its
nest.
In addition to this, it uses some other means of decoration as well. The
bowerbird also paints the walls of its nest. What is more, it prepares the
paint itself. Do you want to know how? It gathers plants in different colors
and paints the walls by using their extracts. Sometimes it uses coal, which
it mixes with its saliva. It also paints the nest's walls, which are made up of
branches, with a piece of bark it chews in its mouth.
Allah is the Creator of all bird species, including those we don’t ever see like
bowerbirds and those that we frequently see like pigeons and gulls. Allah
the All-Glorious teaches a little bird how to build and decorate its nest.
What we should do is to reflect thoroughly on such characteristics of ani-
mals to have a better understanding of Allah's boundless power. Allah
states in a verse in Surat al-Jathiyya:
And He has made everything in the heavens and everything on the earth
subservient to you. It is all from Him. There are certainly Signs in that for
people who reflect. (Surat al-Jathiyya: 13)
W O N D E R F U L C R E A T U R E S
