South Africa's Weaver Bird:

 

Some of my most pleasurable childhood memories come from my preschool days in Hammenskraal where my Father was working at the then Mission Hospital, Jubilee. (It is now a public hospital.) We continue to have a link with Hammanskraal today as we follow the lives of a RB couple who have 'retired' there in order to look after children See http://www.tshepo.org/need.php

My Mother used to tell my sister and I her own stories when we were little; how we loved them. I in turn tell my own children stories too; some repeated or adapted, some new. Recently I have been telling Jarryn some stories about a weaver bird, and so I have been looking for information for him to go alongside. 

 

The Weaver Birds in South Africa are fascinating creatures, marvelously made.  And as clever as can be...they live as a community and remind me of a well functioning church, who work together to protect and nurture it's beloved  people.  And who also love to sing praises to God together. 

I am also reminded too of how well God cares for these little birds, in Matthew 10:29 it tells that a little sparrow, sold for just about nothing, will not fall to the ground without the Heavenly Father knowing...how much more does our Heavenly Father love us and care for us! 

 

Do you know why a weaver bird has it's entrance below the bulb of the nest? So that snakes can't steal their babies or eggs! Do you know what colour a weaver birds egg is.....I am told blue, but I do not recall seeing this for myself - if ever I go back to Africa, one of the very first things I would like to do is watch weaver birds make their nests, listen to their noise and take a peek at their eggs!

 

Matthew 10:29 

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.

Below is a different weaver colony, the social weaver found in the Namibian Dessert, very far North of the Cape. David Attenborough shows how a snake manages to get to eat a baby bird.