Hi, Golden Plover here! What! You don’t know me? Well, I’m about the same size as a dove, and can fly too. But that’s just about everything I have in common with the doves. Take a look at my plumage: My neck is as black as coal – crown, coat and back all shiny black. Then take a look at how beautifully my Creator framed all of my feathers. See how everything shimmers gold-green on top? I’m not called the Golden Plover for nothing. Pluvialis dominica fulva, as the scientists say. God gave everyone of his creatures something special, don’t you think?

A Hollow on Permafrost Soil

I was born in Alaska, although some of my species come from the East Siberian Tundra. These are regions where, even in summer, the ground only thaws on the surface. Only small shrubs, mosses, moorland growth and lichens can survive. It was up there in the open Tundra that I broke open my shell after 26 days of incubation. I found myself, together with my brothers and sisters, in a little hollow upholstered with moss and dry leaves. Our parents fed us, as you might imagine, with vitamins and proteins from fruit and meat in the form of sour redberries, juicy caterpillars, black berries and crackling good beetles.

We grew quickly, and soon learnt to fly. It’s so exciting! Walking is a different matter, though. If you saw me, you’d have to laugh. And you’re absolutely right, I’m really wobbly. My Creator obviously intended to make me this way. Do you seriously think, it could have happened ‘by accident’ – or as some call it, a little more pompously, through ‘Material Self-Organisation’? Did you know that I’m a great fan of the Hawaiian Islands? You’re right, that’s quite a long way from Alaska! How do I get there? It’s quite simple really: I fly. My Creator didn’t make me a fast sprinter or swimmer. But He did create an ace flyer! I’d like to show you just what I’m made of.

50 % Overweight

My brothers and sisters were just a few months old.

We had hardly learnt to fly, when our parents left us.

They had flown on to Hawaii. We weren’t aware of that at the time. To tell you the truth, we didn’t really care where they were. In fact, all we could think about was our appetite, and we ate ourselves silly. In a short time I put on 70 g, that’s more than half my own body-weight. That’s something you should try to imagine! Have you any idea what you’d look like if, after three months instead of weighing your usual 75 kg you weighed 115 kg? Now, I’m sure you want to know just why I ate so much. Quite simply, my Creator programmed me to.

I needed this extra body-weight as fuel for the trip from Alaska to Hawaii. That’s about 4,500 kilometres.

Yes, that’s right, you heard me, 4,500 kilometres! Not only that but I can’t stop once during the whole trip.

Unfortunately, there aren’t any islands, rocks or dry patches on the way, and as you know I’m a pathetic swimmer.

A Quarter of a Million Press-ups

My friends and I fly for 88 hours, that’s three days and four nights, over open water, without a break.

Scientists have worked out that we flap our wings about 250,000 times. Imagine doing 250,000 pressups – that would be a reasonable comparison.

Here’s another question for you: How did I know that I had to put on 70 g to get to Hawaii? Who told me to go there anyway and which direction should I fly in? I’d never flown that route before! There aren’t any orientation points along the way. How were we supposed to find those tiny islands in the Pacific? If we hadn’t found them we would surely have met our end after our food reserves were used up. In that sector, for hundreds of miles, there’s nothing but water.

An Autopilot

You scientists are still scratching your heads trying to figure out how we get our course and can correct it, even after an inflight storm takes its toll. We fly through fog and rain, whether sunshine, starlight or overcast skies, and still get there. Even if they do ever dream up a way that could explain how we do it, they won’t know how we came to have such astonishing capabilities. I’d like to let you in on it. God, the Lord, gave us a built-in automatic pilot. Your jet aircraft have similar devices. They’re hooked up to computers that continuously monitor current position and compare it with the programmed course.

They then make the necessary adjustments to lock on target. Our Creator pre-programmed us with the co-ordinates of the Hawaiian islands so that we have absolutely no trouble getting there! This complete system is not only reliable, but has also been miniaturised for portability.

Do you still believe that it’s all just a coincidence? I don’t! Just think for a minute: The original Golden Plover, whatever that is, decided one day to gain 70 g of fat? Then suppose he decided to fly off just by accident.

Of course, in the same way, he just happened to fly in the right direction and didn’t go off course during the complete 2,500 mile journey? Naturally, he then found the right islands in the Pacific? Then there’s the young Golden plovers he’d left behind.

Would they have been able to have the same good fortune? Just think, the slightest deviation from their programmed course would have been enough, and all would have been hopelessly lost.

A Precisely Defined Velocity

You know, that’s not the whole story. To fly 4,500 km in 88 hours I have to cruise at about 51 km/h. Scientists have since discovered that that’s the optimal speed for us to fly at. If we fly more slowly, we use up a higher proportion of our energy for forward propulsion. If we flew faster, we’d use up too much energy combating friction. It’s the same with your car. If you drive faster than 70 m.p.h. you’ll use more fuel for the whole trip, because of the extra air resistance involved. Now, you can stop at the next petrol station. I can’t. I have to get there with 70 g of extra fat and must contend with occasional headwinds.

A Computational Example

Are you fond of mathematics? Well, just go and get your calculator. Scientists have found out, that Golden Plovers convert per flight hour 0.6% of their body-weight into motion and heat. By the way, your flying-machines are of a far inferior construction. So, for example, a helicopter needs, in relation to its weight, 7 times and a jet 20 times more fuel than I do.

At take off, I weigh about 200 grams; 0.6% of that is 1.2 g. So one hour after departure, I’m down to 198.8 g, 0.6% of that makes 1.19 g. Take that from 198.8 g and you get 197.61 g. That’s what I weigh after two hours flight. Take 0.6% from that and … Well come on! Keep at it, you’ll see that mathematics also serves to glorify God.

At the end of my journey I must weigh at least 130 g, otherwise all of my reserves would have been used up, and I’d crash into the sea and drown. Keep calculating: After the third hour, I’m down to 196.42 g, after the 4th 195.24 g … Keep on calculating – I’m waiting… What’s the matter? Oh yes, you’re quite right, the calculation doesn’t work, 70 g isn’t enough in reserve to get there. I’d actually need 82.2 g to make it, as you correctly calculated. After 72 hours all my fuel would have been exhausted and I’d crash into the sea 500 miles short of Hawaii.

An Unparalleled Solution

You see, my Creator thought of that too. He gave each one of us two items of lifesaving information.

1. Always fly over the great seas in groups, never alone – and – 2. Organise yourselves into a “V-Formation”.

In a formation like this everybody saves 23 % of the energy compared to that used when flying alone. Of course, this isn’t the case for the chap at the apex of the formation, but he doesn’t stay there all the time.

The strong flyers share the load at the front, the weaker ones stay back where it gets progressively easier to fly the farther back you go. In this ‘cooperation’ we are actually practicing biblical teaching, which is better known as the Law of Christ. “Bear ye one another’s burdens” (Galatians 6:2). In this way we can reach our winter quarters safely. We even end up having a few grams over. Our Creator took it into account that it is always possible that we could run into headwind. He shows us, just how much he cares for us.

Do you still think that I was made by coincidence and that it brought me this far? Not me! I squawk at chance. I’d rather sing my Creator’s praises.