African birds didn't go to the school that teaches that they are supposed to be scared of owls!

I kept hearing birds outside my window today, but they didn't seem to be tweeting the normal melodious happy notes we are used to.

They went on and on.  I could hear it wasn't just one species of bird either.

Eventually I took a look , thinking I might get a few photos of those birds!

Instead, in a branch of the big tree just outside our window, there was an owl.  Just sitting quietly.

But around him in the tree, above, below, behind, jumping all over the place, squawking more than singing, were many birds!….of many species! 

Here are just a few that I managed to get some photos of through the flyscreen (hence the haziness of the photo), but they weren't all that co-operative and there were a couple species I didn't get clear photos of.  They were very jittery, hopping from branch to branch and twitching their tails.

They also seemed to be all making sure they were facing the owl as they squawked!

This bunch of birds may have been diverse in their species but there certainly seemed unified in expressing their disapproval of Mr Owl being in that tree!

But the owl didn't seem the slightest perturbed about the whole thing and just kept sitting, watching me.  

Oh periodically he swivelled his head to look behind him (showing me just how good a disguise the back of his head is - you really have to look hard to realise those black spots are just feathers and not his eyes)!  

But that was about it.

This warranted some further internet research.

Not sure why, but I was totally ignorant of the fact that birds are supposed to be scared of owls.  There is a myriad of 'advice' on the internet telling people to put plastic owls in their gardens to scare away noisy unwanted birds.  You can buy plastic owls on Amazon just for this purpose!  

But the opposite happened in our thorn tree!  

The owl turned up and birds from all over came to the tree making a whole lot of noise!

So I don't know what the deal was in 'bird land culture'. Maybe they saw him as in intruder to their territory and were trying to tell him to move on. It seems he didn't want to listen. The opinions of other birds seemed totally irrelevant to him!

But whatever it was, those birds were not scared away, although they were not too impressed with Mr Owl being there.

Eventually when the noise stopped, I took another look, and the owl had gone.  But later in the day, I noticed him again, and you guessed it, one by one, birds started turning up making a big noise!

So I have no clue as to what all that was about!  Of course our Creator knows exactly what it was all about!  

Although I was reminded that often when we stand resolute on godly issues and move into new territory, we might not be considered welcome, and we might stir up a whole heap of relentless noise against us and around us!  Maybe we can learn from this owl. Sometimes we just have to ignore the 'noise' and quietly and gently just resolutely continue on being and doing what we were created (anew in Christ) to be and to do.

And despite not knowing what the whole deal was today in my African thorn tree, once again my heart was caused to thank the Lord for the opportunity to witness more intricacies of His creation and praise him for beautiful birds!

….And, I am totally fine about Mr Owl coming to visit anytime!