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John Clayton
In Mexico, there is a woodpecker known as el carpentero.
The reason for the name is the odd method this woodpecker has of
storing its food. Yuccas have stalks which are separated into
several cavities. This bird bores two holes in the yucca--one in
the top of a chamber and another at the bottom. The hole drilled
is just big enough to fit the nut through, not big enough for any
bird or squirrel to get into. The woodpecker packs the chambers
with acorns and other nuts. When it has a need for this stored
food, it is dry and protected.
Many places where the yucca plants are located do not have oak
trees. One study showed the woodpeckers flying 30 miles one way
to get their acorns, but the nuts are safe in the isolation of
the yucca. Baby carpenter birds have been seen carrying on this
behavior and doing it too soon to have learned it. Apparently it
is a instinctive behavior genetically programmed into the birds.
Programming demands a programmer--an intelligence that can
design a system that works. We suggest that this is a design
feature of the Creator who says we can know He is through the
things He has made.
This article taken from: Does God Exist?, Nov/Dec 1997.
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