{"id":69505,"date":"2019-01-23T00:00:46","date_gmt":"2019-01-23T07:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=69505"},"modified":"2019-01-23T17:26:46","modified_gmt":"2019-01-24T00:26:46","slug":"the-birds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/01\/the-birds.html","title":{"rendered":"The Birds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Nice-looking<\/a>
A homing pigeon, or a velociraptor? \u00a0(Wikimedia Commons)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

A piece in the 13 December 2014 issue of the Economist\u00a0<\/em>reported on an article that had just been published in Science<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

It seems that a major research project had just recently sequenced the genomes of 48 different species of modern birds, showing that the Neoaves, the biological \u201cclade\u201d\u00a0that contains 95% of modern bird species (though not chickens and ducks), \u201carose in a spectacular burst of evolution and diversification just a few million years after the asteroid strike\u201d roughly 65 million years ago that killed the dinosaurs off. \u00a0But it didn\u2019t kill them all<\/em> off: \u00a0The study also appears to demonstrate what scientists had long theorized \u2014 namely, that most of our birds descended from the theropods, a category of two-legged dinosaurs that, among others, included Tyrannosaurus rex<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Next time you find yourself watching the sparrows on your lawn or the hummingbirds vying for domination of your bird feeder, think about that. \u00a0And shiver. \u00a0Maybe Alfred Hitchcock\u2019s The Birds<\/em> wasn\u2019t so far wrong, after all.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Granted, Alaska then wasn\u2019t like Alaska now. \u00a0But, still, it was scarcely tropical:<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

http:\/\/hosted2.ap.org\/APDEFAULT\/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de\/Article_2015-09-22-US-Alaska-Dinosaur\/id-ffb2704d3ee64a3e894acab9b682d786<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The notion that some dinosaurs may have been more bird-like, even more mammal-like, than we\u2019ve long imagined is very interesting. \u00a0It\u2019s certainly not what I<\/em> was taught, back in my dinosaur-loving childhood.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Certain atheist readers of my blog like to portray me as somebody who hates and fears science, and who, when he pays attention to the subject, uses it only in an exploitative way to elicit \u201cwows.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I am, one person wrote to me just a couple of days ago, a \u201cscience denier.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

These folks are profoundly wrong with regard to that accusation, of course, but, with the claim that I see science as a source of wonder, they come several light years closer to the truth than they commonly do: \u00a0I do<\/em> think that much about the universe and the natural world is perfectly astounding.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

This article might supply you with one or two more such astonishing facts:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/thetwo-way\/2016\/10\/27\/499635084\/this-bird-can-remain-airborne-for-10-months-straight<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

If so, I\u2019ll be pleased. \u00a0But I still won\u2019t hate science, or fear it.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

And I find this<\/a> pretty amazing, too:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

http:\/\/blogs.discovermagazine.com\/d-brief\/2016\/09\/19\/pigeons-can-distinguish-real-words-from-gibberish\/#.V-KpxGW0zdm<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s a lot<\/em> of pretty stunning material coming out about the surprising intelligence of birds. \u00a0For example:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cCrows Understand Analogies\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cCrows Have Human-Like Intelligence, Author Says\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cCrows are as intelligent as CHILDREN: Study reveals birds are as clever as a seven-year-old human\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

And this slightly long but fascinating piece (which, unfortunately, contains two absolutely unnecessary f-bombs):<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c6 Terrifying Ways Crows Are Way Smarter Than You Think\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 A piece in the 13 December 2014 issue of the Economist\u00a0reported on an article that had just been published in Science. \u00a0 It seems that a major research project had just recently sequenced the genomes of 48 different species of modern birds, showing that the Neoaves, the biological \u201cclade\u201d\u00a0that contains 95% of modern […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2460,2857,1890,249,677,62,138],"class_list":["post-69505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-birds","tag-crows","tag-dinosaurs","tag-evolution","tag-intelligence","tag-religion-and-science","tag-science-and-religion"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Birds<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    A piece in the 13 December 2014 issue of the Economist\u00a0reported on an 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