God's Bird List: June 2026

Man's Impact on Birds

A few posts ago (6/13/26), I looked at how God preserves the birds, as well as briefly exploring man’s attempts to do the same. Certainly, there are areas where man has had a positive impact. On the other side of the issue, there are also ways in which man has had a negative impact on birds.

One of the best-known instances in the USA has involved our national symbol, the bald eagle. In the early years of our country, bald eagles were plentiful. During the expansion and development of our country in the late 1800s to early 1900s, the eagle population declined significantly. A lot of their habitat was destroyed, and eagles were also killed due to predation concerns or for sport.

The BIG issue, though, was DDT, a common insecticide from the 1940s-1970s. The chemical persisted through the food chain, and the impact on eagles was to make their eggs so brittle that successful births declined rapidly. Eagles became endangered, with only 400-500 nesting pairs remaining. We came close to losing this bird. Protective measures were initiated in 1972 to ban DDT and the hunting of eagles, and the species has recovered nicely.

This has not been man’s only threat to birds. DDT impacted all raptors, not just eagles. We have probably all seen stories about trash that has entangled or strangled birds. Every year people are warned to turn off lights at night during migration season to minimize deaths from birds crashing into buildings. Through my limited research, it would seem that two man-influenced factors are most detrimental. One is loss of habitat. This is a sad but inevitable impact of human expansion. To create room for people, forests are cut down; natural habitats of all types shrink as civilization expands. The other major issue is cats. Whether domestic cats that are allowed to roam or feral cats that have been abandoned by their owners, this factor FAR outweighs things like building strikes, windmills, and powerlines - combined.

Man’s negative impact is certainly not always malicious or even deliberate. The brown tree snake was accidentally introduced onto the island of Guam around the end of World War II, most likely riding in on a cargo ship. Without natural predators, this snake population exploded to tens of thousands per square mile in some parts of the island. (Ewww!!!) Quite predictably, the bird population plummeted. Birds were driven to extinction, and the forests became silent. Efforts have been taken to control the snakes and to introduce birds to Guam, but Guam is not a birder’s paradise. Over its 24-year history, eBird reports only 132 total species, and only 40 different species by all birders combined for the first five months of 2026. (For comparison, I can often see 40 species in a few hours even in the winter.) Almost all of Guam’s birds are accidentals, migrants, or introduced species.

None of the above situations, however, reflect man’s greatest threat to birds. The greatest danger came about 1600 years after creation, when “the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart” (Genesis 6:5-6). The colossal and universal depravity of man led God to an extreme decision. “The LORD said, ‘I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them’” (Genesis 6:7). The animals and birds were going to suffer the same fate of destruction, through no fault of their own, but simply because they lived on the same globe with sinful man.

While God promised never again to destroy the earth by flood, the negative impact of man’s sin continues. At the time of Hosea (around 750-720 B.C.), God gave this estimation of mankind. “There is no faithfulness or kindness or knowledge of God in the land. There is swearing, deception, murder, stealing and adultery. They employ violence, so that bloodshed follows bloodshed” (Hosea 4:1b-2). What was the impact of such wickedness? “Therefore the land mourns, and everyone who lives in it languishes along with the beasts of the field and the birds of the sky, and also the fish of the sea disappear” (Hosea 4:3). God does not disclose the specific consequences for the birds at this time, only saying that they mourn and languish. Again, this was due to man’s sin raging in the earth.

Approximately 100 years later (630-620 B.C.), Zephaniah wrote his prophecy. God’s message was this: “I will remove man and beast; I will remove the birds of the sky and the fish of the sea, and the ruins along with the wicked; and I will cut off man from the face of the earth” (Zephaniah 1:3). My impression is that this prophecy may have a double fulfillment. At the time it was written, God was predicting imminent judgment on Judah and the surrounding countries, so I would assume a fulfillment at the time of Judah’s destruction. Both verse 2 and verse 3 of this chapter refer to the impact on “the face of the earth,” seeming to indicate devastation on a global scale rather than localized; I would assume that extent of judgment is yet to come with the ultimate “day of the LORD” that Zephaniah speaks about. Whether or not I accurately understand those dynamics, what is clear is that God’s judgment on man’s sin will result in concurrent devastation to the birds.

It is evident from these three verses (Genesis, Hosea, Zephaniah) that the actions of man have a definite impact on the bird population. While our malicious actions, mistakes, carelessness, and apathy matter, (as related in the opening examples of this post), our sin matters FAR more. Just like there is no comparison between windmills and cats, even so there is no comparison between environmental choices and sin choices. Ultimately, man’s sin will result in the destruction of the birds on this planet as we know it now. This is not just some nebulous, universal sin of mankind. Universal sin is made up of individual sins by individual sinners. Individually, we grieve the heart of God. What we do matters; it has impact on our environment and on a more pertinent and immediate scale, our actions matter to the people around us. What we do impacts others for good or for bad. Let us strive to please God so that we can have the best possible impact on our world.

Ravens

Ravens are the largest passerines; a passerine is a perching bird or songbird, as opposed to a wading/walking bird, a swimming bird, or a hunting bird. Ravens are mentioned ten times in the Old Testament and once in the New Testament.

Ravens are entirely black (except a few species that have a bit of white on the neck or head). The bride in Song of Solomon describes her bridegroom’s hair as being black like a raven. “His locks are like clusters of dates and black as a raven” (Song of Solomon 5:11).

Ravens can be easily confused with crows. A close look will reveal that ravens are shaggy around the throat, compared to smoother-necked crows. Ravens also have a thick bill, for some species almost grotesquely so. The other telling feature is the shape of the tail as seen in flight. Common ravens have wedge-shaped tails (almost like a diamond) as opposed to crows’ fan-shaped tails.

Ravens also have distinct behavior. While crows often hang out in large groups, (playing follow-the-leader or engaging in mass dogfights), ravens tend to be solitary – individuals or pairs. Ravens are also known for their acrobatics; their courtship in flight is filled with swoops, rolls, and somersaults. Crows caw; while some crow species have a nasal caw, the ravens are even more painful – a gronk or croak that make it sound like the bird is about to die!

Ravens are quite widespread. They are found nearly anywhere in the Northern hemisphere, and some species live in Australia and the southern part of Africa. These very adaptable birds are dietary opportunists; they will take what they find, whether that be garbage, seeds, grains, fruits, or meat. Their preferred food is a wide variety of carrion, but they are also known to hunt.

The Bible mentions the raven’s habitat. Isaiah paints a dismal picture of the devastated landscape that will follow God’s judgment. Regarding that place of desolation, God reveals that “pelican and hedgehog will possess it, and owl and raven will dwell in it; and He will stretch over it the line of desolation and the plumb line of emptiness” (Isaiah 34:11). The raven inhabits a wide variety of habitats, and it is able to survive in the desolated wilderness.

We also read of the ravens’ diet, in particular its scavenging. Probably referring to someone who has been stoned for disrespect to his parents, the Bible states, “The eye that mocks a father and scorns a mother, the ravens of the valley will pick it out” (Proverbs 30:17). With its scavenging lifestyle, it should be no surprise that the raven is included in the list of unclean birds, which were not to be eaten: “Every raven in its kind” (Leviticus 11:15 and Deuteronomy 14:14).

The previous blog post dealt with God’s provision for the birds, and God chose the ravens as a particular example of this. Why did He choose ravens? Perhaps because there are so many of them. Perhaps because of the volume of food they eat; each one eats about a half pound of meat per day. Perhaps even because ravens are not the most beloved creature by man, but God cares about them.

God looks at these less-than-favorite birds, and He commits Himself to meeting their needs. “Who prepares for the raven its nourishment when its young cry to God and wander about without food?” (Job 38:41). “He gives to the beast its food, and to the young ravens which cry” (Psalm 147:9). “Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap; they have no storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them; how much more valuable you are than the birds!” (Luke 12:24).

God feeds the ravens, but there was at least one time when God used the ravens to feed someone else! During the three-year famine in Elijah’s day, God sent Elijah to take refuge beside the brook Cherith. Elijah was not able to meet his own needs. He had to rely on God. God provided water from the brook, and He provided food by using ravens as the first DoorDash! God reassured Elijah, “It shall be that you will drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to provide for you there” (1 Kings 17:4).

We don’t know the exact amount of time this provision lasted; during the three years of the famine, Elijah also spent an undisclosed length of time with a widow in Zarephath. But for however long this arrangement lasted, the provision was consistent. “The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he would drink from the brook” (1 Kings 17:6). It may not have been Elijah’s first choice to eat food delivered by unclean ravens, but God took care of him. God sometimes provides through unexpected means, and He sometimes uses things and people that we might naturally discount as worthless or undesirable.

This is not the only time that God used a raven to help His servant. When Noah was on the ark, he knew that the rain had stopped, but he did not know if the earth was still completely covered with water. Noah waited forty days before sending out a raven as a test. “Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made; and he sent out a raven, and it flew here and there until the water was dried up from the earth” (Genesis 8:7). When the raven didn’t return to the ark, Noah would have known there was some dry land. Ravens can fly for many hours at a time. With its ability to handle a wide variety of landscapes and its opportunistic feeding habits, the raven was able to survive outside the ark, even though it was not a very hospitable environment.

Ravens are fed by God, used by God, and designed by God to be a hardy and adaptable bird. What they lack in beauty and cleanliness, they make up for in intelligence and acrobatics.

God's Preservation of Birds

Just like every other creature, birds have needs - elements necessary for survival. The primary of these are food, water, shelter, habitat, and protection from predators.

This list is really not much different from what people need, but there is a vast difference between people and birds. God has given humans special intelligence and special strength beyond what the creatures have. People can plan and adapt. God has designed people so that they can take great steps in meeting their own needs. When it comes to food, man can plan a garden, cultivate the soil, plant and harvest. For water, man can dig a well or build great reservoirs. For shelter, man can harvest lumber or make bricks; he can construct homes. For habitat, man can move from place to place (to some extent) and can invent such helps as heating and air conditioning. Regarding predators, God has given man the size and strength so that he has few predators, and the intelligence to make weapons to protect himself from others.

This is a rather simplified overview, but what should be obvious is that the tiny birds, with their frailty and body structure, cannot do what man can do. Birds are not helpless, but they are far more dependent and vulnerable than man. On whom do the birds depend for survival?

God takes care of the birds. This was true in the most threatening situation that ever existed – the Flood. The entire globe was to be covered in water. The birds would have had no food, no safe water, and nowhere to rest. Even in the best conditions, birds are not going to fly for forty days straight, and certainly not in the midst of torrential rain. Without God’s intervention, every bird would have died in the Flood.

God didn’t want that to happen. He told Noah, “The birds after their kind … will come to you to keep them alive” (Genesis 6:20). God sent the birds to Noah for protection on the ark, and the reason was to keep them alive so that the future version of the earth would still have birds. “Also of the birds of the sky, by sevens, male and female, to keep offspring alive on the face of all the earth” (Genesis 7:3).

God accomplished His plan. The birds went into the ark for safety. “Of birds … there went into the ark to Noah” (Genesis 7:8). It wasn’t just a few select birds; it was all the birds. “And every bird after its kind, all sorts of birds” (Genesis 7:14). When the Flood was over, all the birds went out of the ark. “Every bird … went out by their families from the ark” (Genesis 8:19). God provided for the birds during this worst-ever disaster, and the birds were preserved.

That wasn’t the only time God intervened on behalf of the birds. In fact, God takes care of the birds on a daily and continuing basis. Obviously, there are layers to this provision. We see birds eating. We see a robin “connected” to the ground by a stretched-out nightcrawler. We see swallows and swifts darting in the sky, snatching insects. We might see a heron amazingly swallow a frog or a whole fish. The sparrows come to our feeders and eat seeds, and the geese flock in the fields, feeding on corn. It would appear then that birds find their own food.

We have also seen birds caring for their young. A mama owl carries a rabbit to the nest for her baby. An eagle delivers a fish. A bluebird brings worms to its babies, and warblers transport insects. It would appear that the parent birds provide for the baby birds.

The Bible reveals the deeper picture. When God spoke to Job, He gave a series of questions, each designed to point to God’s control over nature. Here is one of those questions: “Who prepares for the raven its nourishment when its young cry to God and wander about without food?” (Job 38:41). As in the rest of the extended discourse, the understood answer is “God.” Other verses give the same truth as a statement. “He gives to the beast its food, and to the young ravens which cry” (Psalm 147:9). Ultimately, it is God who feeds the birds.

In the New Testament, we even have verses that emphasize the critical difference between birds and man regarding planting and harvesting. “Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them” (Matthew 6:26). “Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap; they have no storeroom nor barn, and yet God feeds them” (Luke 12:24).

We might say that the birds do not plan ahead or lay up provisions. Each day they go out to find their food for that day. How do they know they will find food? The most fundamental answer to that question is that God supplies their food. It is God who planned what each bird species would eat. It is God who created our planet with its variety of plants and creatures. It is God who maintains our planet. It is God who helps the birds know where and when to change locations. As the birds find their daily food, it is God who provides that food for them.

There are a few birds that cache food, usually nuts and seeds. Chickadees, titmice, nuthatches, and jays are known for this. Acorn woodpeckers will fill a tree trunk with acorns placed in individual holes. Shrikes will store food on a more temporary basis by impaling their captured prey on thorns or sharp sticks. But these are the rarities.

God provides also for the birds’ other needs, like water, shelter, habitat, and predation. Again, God has provisioned and equipped the earth to meet these needs. He has taught the birds to adapt when conditions (that He controls) change. He has taught each bird how to build its nest and where to take shelter. In both nest-building and behavior, He has taught the birds some level of protection from predators.

Do disasters ever happen? Yes, both to individual birds and sometimes on a wider scale. On January 25, 2026, there was a major snowstorm on the East Coast. This was followed by a stretch of brutally cold weather that froze the ground for days on end. The woodcock population of Cape May, New Jersey was in trouble. This normally reclusive bird came out into the open by the hundreds, seeking places where the ground was not frozen. Sadly, this did not turn out well, as more than 170 woodcocks froze to death while seeking food, quite possibly wiping out the entire population in that location. This type of local disaster can happen, but the species survives in many other places. I heard woodcocks in my area this spring, alive and well and doing their mating ritual. And that is the way of the preservation of the birds: individual birds die, and localized tragedies can happen, but on a wider scale, the species survive, because God is watching over them.

Modern man has tried to take on that responsibility through conservation and environmental efforts. There is no question that man has impacted the world of birds in both positive and negative ways, but the noticeable benefits are generally restricted to particular geographic regions on a very small scale (like a wetland or wildlife preserve). Even the multitude of people using backyard feeders has a very small-scale impact. Man’s efforts are a drop in the bucket compared to what God does.

I am not condemning man’s efforts; we do have a responsibility to steward our globe effectively, but it is not up to us to save the birds, nor could we if we tried. Some of these modern efforts try to usurp what only God can do, thinking they can protect birds from extinction. In these cases, man is seriously overestimating his own ability and influence. In general, these small efforts are not a problem. They become an issue only when the proper order is disrupted – when creatures are placed before man, or when man is placed before God. In the end, though, it is God who preserves the birds.

God does not create creatures to abandon them. He provides all that is needed. He makes the resources available. Through instinct, He teaches the birds to forage, to build nests, and to protect themselves. Yes, the birds search for food, but ultimately it is God who preserves them, just as He preserves humans, both in the most threatening times of life and in the ordinary cycle of every day.

How Many Birds Did God Create?

Okay, God created the birds. But how many birds did He create? There are around 11,000 global species today. Did God create that level of diversity?

Any birder knows the confusion, frustration, and perhaps joy that comes each year when the species lists are revised. In the USA, the American Ornithological Society determines when species should be split or combined. They do this based on continuous study of where the birds live, what sounds they make, their coloration patterns, and even precise genetic research. They sometimes discover that what they thought were two different species really are just variations of the same species; or, what they thought was the same species has birds diverse enough to be considered two or more species.

Practically, this means a birder’s life list could suddenly increase or decrease. In 2023, the northern goshawk was split into the American goshawk and the Eurasian goshawk. One of my birding acquaintances added a new bird to his list without any effort, as he had previously seen the goshawk in both ranges. In 2026, the whimbrel was divided into two species (Hudsonian and Eurasian), and the yellow warbler was split (northern yellow warbler and mangrove yellow warbler). The opposite can also happen; in 2024 the common redpoll and hoary redpoll were lumped together into a single species. These numbers changed the bird names on my list, but not my total number of species. (My yellow warbler has become a northern yellow warbler, and my common redpoll has simply become a redpoll.)

Additionally, in a typical year, 5-10 new birds are discovered globally, mostly in remote jungles. In summary, ornithological organizations recognize that the list of bird species is quite fluid and always changing. The availability and study of molecular data (DNA) has actually complicated the question, as scientists have found unexpected connections (or lack thereof) as well as a complexity in the bird world that they cannot fully classify.

Here’s what the Bible says. “God created … every winged bird after its kind” (Genesis 1:21). God repeats that classification when He talks about the birds Noah was to take onto the ark – “of the birds after their kind” (Genesis 6:20). The word “kind” has to do with portioning or sorting out. God was aware that the birds (and other creatures) could be sorted into logical categories and groupings. Okay, science time. Remember this list? Kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species. Christian scientists commonly believe that the “kind” of the Bible is equivalent to the “family” level of the taxonomy pyramid.

Members of a family (kind) share the same basic characteristics and can interbreed. They might not interbreed often (due to differing geography or habitat), but they can. (Ex. Horse and zebra, horse and donkey.) Over time this interbreeding results in new species; dog breeding has greatly intensified over the past 150 years, resulting in hundreds of new species. While this has been accomplished through purposeful breeding, the same happens naturally on a lesser scale. Over 6,000-10,000 years of history, a lot of species can develop.

When preparations were being made to build the ark replica at the Ark Encounter in Kentucky, groups of scientists created estimates of how many animals were on the ark, based on the premise that God provided 2 (or 7) of each family (kind). Those who researched the birds used field guides and scientific data to make a list of current and recently extinct bird families. Their preliminary list consisted of 196 families (kinds). They eventually decided on 284 families (kinds) of birds on the ark, which added in extinct birds.

In 2025, a “grue” jay caused some excitement in Texas. This was the first known example of a hybrid between a blue jay and a green jay. But if there’s one, I’m sure there are more. This just happened to be the first one that visited a place where it was seen by someone experienced and observant enough to notice. Some species are so well-known for their interbreeding that field guides make note of them: western gulls and glaucous-winged gulls, blue-winged warblers and golden-winged warblers, and mallards and American black ducks. In fact, mallards routinely breed with a wide range of both wild and domestic ducks; those random, unidentifiable “pond ducks” in urban settings likely have mallard breeding, as revealed by their curly black tail feathers. How long will it take before these hybrids are named as new species? How many variants have I perhaps seen without realizing it? Even experienced birders routinely identify birds based on one or two outstanding features, without confirming every single marking on the bird.

For a bit of context regarding the families (kinds), of the 196 families compiled by the Answers in Genesis researchers, twenty of those contain just one species. Most have between 2 and 100, but 26 groups have over 100. Familiar to North American birders are the Parulidae (new world warblers) with approximately 116 species. The Turdidae family (thrushes and allies), which would include bluebirds, American robins, wood thrushes, and veeries, has around 194 species. The largest family is the Passeroidea (sparrow/finch) family, which includes sparrows, finches, orioles, blackbirds, buntings, tanagers, grosbeaks, and cardinals; this has around 1471 species. I have seen numerous species in each of these families. My lifetime list for the USA is 258, but if I go by family (kind), I have around 45.

Perhaps one way to summarize the whole concept of family (kind) in the context of history and emerging species would be to consider what a field guide from 4000 BC might have looked like. The AIG researchers had a final number of 284, so a field guide at the time of the flood might have listed fewer than 300 birds, perhaps showing additional pictures of some of the variety within families. The 11,000 species that we have today have come from those “parent” birds. If you are thinking, “There is no way all our modern birds came from such a small number of ancestors!,” think about how many times you have stood in the woods, trying to distinguish field markings. Is it a white eyebrow or a yellowish eyebrow? Does it have an eye ring or eye arcs? How reddish is the color of brown? How thick are the streaks? Or, sometimes waiting for the bird to vocalize, because two species can be differentiated only by song!

It seems quite likely that God created multiple birds of each kind (at least two!), so that some diversity may have existed even at the time of creation. I think that a feasible answer to the question of how many species of birds God created would be 200-300. I suggest the lower 200 possibility to account for two considerations. First, the AIG research was based on the time of the flood, approximately 1600 years after creation. Second, the AIG researchers listed some birds at distinct family (kind) levels even though they suspected they might actually be part of another family, but any evidence is too far back in history to be confirmed. They erred on the side of more families rather than fewer.

In the end, it is almost a silly question. What difference does it make? We have today the birds that we have today, and we know that they all came from what our masterful God created. I do believe, however, that studying this question has given me greater understanding and a better foundation for understanding bird species.

If this post intrigued you at all, you can probably lose a couple hours of your day by visiting either or both of the websites listed below.

Birdsoftheworld.org/bow/phylogeny (Cornell Lab)

Answersresearchjournal.org/avian-ark-kinds (Answers in Genesis)

God's Bird List

Man's Impact on Birds

Ravens

God's Preservation of Birds

How Many Birds Did God Create?

Storks

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