Photo and Commentary ©2024 by Robert Howson
Tuesday, September 10, 2024
Almost like two peas in a pod. You’d be hard pressed to find visual significant differences between these two members of the flycatcher family. But classed they are as two separate species, the Western Wood-Pewee and the Eastern Wood-Pewee. Neither is particularly distinctive in their drab olive-gray plumage and their life-style patterns are similar as well, except that as their names describe, they live in two separate regions of the country. Any differences you might think you see are due more to lighting and photographic variables than differences in the birds themselves. Why then would taxonomists separate these two into two distinct species? Remember, this was done long before we had the ability to look at their DNA structure which might confirm the separation.
The answer centers around their voice. The name pewee is derived from one of the calls of the Eastern species, a good onomatopoeic word if there ever was one. The Western equivalent simply took on the pewee name because of the other similarities they share.
So, what characteristic do you share with other believers that would qualify you to be correctly classified as a Christian? Certainly our languages are as diverse as our nationalities. Appearances vary widely in any given congregation, and worship styles range from the most reverent to the most demonstrative. If pressed for an answer, the best we might come up with is a common devotion to and adoration of a central figure, the person Jesus Christ.