Daily Bitachon Series: Shaar Habechina Welcome to our daily Bitachon. We are in Shaar Habechina now, delving into the wonders of the birds. Today, we are going to talk about the telescopic eye of the Eagle . The eagle is like a high-altitude plane designed for visual dominance over its territory. 1. The Eagle's Telescopic Vision An eagle can spot a rabbit moving from over two miles away. If a human had eagle vision, they could read a newspaper from across a football field or see an ant crawling on the ground from the roof of a ten-story building! Hashem made it so that their retina has five times more light-sensing cells than ours. They have deep telescopic lenses that magnify the center of their field of view. Their lenses are set up to give them the equivalent of what we have on our phones as a "panoramic view," but they can also lock in on a specific target with binocular depth perception at the same time. And, of course, like the woodpecker, they have a "third eyelid." This additional membrane blinks down to clean the surface of the eye and keep it moist without the eagle losing sight of its prey for even a millisecond. While we have to lose our vision in the "blink of an eye," the eagle can blink and still see, even while making a dive at a hundred miles an hour! 2. The Periscope of the American Woodcock Another example where Hashem gave an animal the exact eyesight it needs is the American Woodcock . This bird is designed for life on the forest floor, where danger can come from any direction. Hashem made it so that the Woodcock can see in a complete 360-degree circle without moving its head. It sees behind itself as clearly as it sees in front! Its eyes are set so far back and high in the skull that the visual fields overlap in both the front and the back. This "periscope design" allows the bird to keep its beak deep in the mud searching for worms while simultaneously watching the entire sky for predators. 3. The "Upside-Down" Brain In order to position the eyes correctly, the brain had to be shifted. Because the eyes are moved to the top of the skull, the brain was literally pushed down and tilted. It is essentially "upside down" compared to other birds. As we know, the eyes must connect to the brain through the Optic Nerve —that high-speed fiber-optic cable that transmits electric impulses from the retina to the visual processing center. In our bodies, the brain sits above the eyes (which is why we have a forehead), but for this bird to see the way it does, its brain had to be flipped. This is clear evidence of a plan and purpose. Evolutionists don't have billions of years for these things to "work themselves out," because all the Woodcocks would have been eaten by predators long before the eyes and brain moved into the right place! 4. The Tweezers in the Mud Now, we have a problem: if the eyes are on top of the skull, how does the beak find food? It is essentially searching blindly in the mud for a needle in a haystack. Wonder of wonders: The Woodcock's beak is loaded with nerve endings that detect the vibrations of earthworms moving underground. It can "feel" its prey through the mud and grab it like a pair of tweezers. Hashem even made the tip of the beak flexible so it can open independently of the rest of the beak to snatch the worm. The unique beak abilities and the unique eye abilities converge perfectly in this one wonderful creature. It is mind-boggling. We must sit here and contemplate this great wisdom, remembering that Hashem, whose rachamav al kol ma'asav (mercy is on all His works), takes care of them—and surely takes care of us.