We can worship God in many ways; and one of those ways is by enjoying and marveling at His handiwork. No matter which way we turn, the work of His hands is in front of us. It testifies to Him, and we do well to listen.
Hi, Mr. Nature here. Behold the hoatzin, a bird that lives in the Amazon rain forest. Its babies are like no other bird in the world–baby hoatzins have claws on their wings, which they can use to climb and crawl and grasp, and sometimes get themselves out of trouble.
Oh, but we’ve seen birds with claws! Well, fossils of ’em. Archaeopteryx had claws on its wings. It also had a beak full of teeth, which the hoatzin doesn’t have. But maybe the hoatzin is the last of the Archaeopteryx tribe.
(If you look closely at this famous Archaeopteryx fossil, you’ll be able to see it had claws on its wings, just like a baby hoatzin.)
Yes, I know, the Evolution crowd will climb all over this. “See! See! Birds evolved from dinosaurs!” Please ignore the perfectly modern-looking bird tracks discovered in Argentina in rocks supposedly dating from the very beginning of the age of dinosaurs. And under no circumstances trouble yourselves with the Protoavis bird fossils from the early Triassic.
We are at liberty to ignore those people.
As we are at liberty to enjoy the Lord Our God in his handiwork.
Is Jandra’s pet bird a hoatzin?
Not exactly–the hoatzin loses its claws when it matures.