Distractions

The cowbird is unique in North America. While some other birds will occasionally lay their eggs in other birds’ nests, the cowbird does so exclusively. In Illinois, for example, the little brown cowbird with its mink-colored head is a common sight. Yet, bird experts say you will not find one cowbird nest in the entire state.

That’s been a problem. Says writer Peter Kendall, “The cowbirds are prodigious egg-layers: Each female commonly deposits 20 to 40 eggs in dozens of other nests each spring. Cowbird eggs usually hatch more quickly than the other bird’s eggs, and the chicks grow more quickly. Because birds tend to feed the largest and loudest of their young first—because they usually would be the healthiest and have the best chance of survival—the host bird spends inordinate time and energy tending to the cowbird.”

As a result, the cowbird is pushing some other songbirds to extinction.

Like the cowbird, distractions in our lives have a way of intruding themselves and taking over. Distractions can cause the extinction of godly activities.