Hot Strut flight, was Re: [wingstroke]

[MarkEShelly@aol.com]

Tim Williams said "They need thrust to stop them from descending.  A glider can 
generate an airfoil to give it lift, but it can't stay in the air forever.  For 
that you need the flight stroke."
                       
DinoGeorge said in response to a question… “…Probably less 
impossible than developing flight from the ground up.” 
   
A few years ago, I tried to think of possibilities on how flight could have 
occurred that did not involve the Cursorial or Arboreal theories. (manly 
because some people used the words "this is the only way flight could have 
occured".  I have included my thoughts here as an alternate possibility for the 
start of the flight wingstroke.  I have not read all arguments on the evolution 
of flight so I do not know if this is a new concept.

Another possible origin to bird flight does not require gliding at all.  I'm 
assuming here that Archaeopteryx is not the "first bird".  In this case, bird 
ancestors had elongated scales, down, or feathers and were or might have been 
in the process of becoming warm-blooded.  Having flattened, elongated scales, 
feathers, or down that could be rotated parallel or perpendicular to the body 
would have been a good way to regulate internal temperatures, allowing sun in 
when perpendicular, keeping heat in when parallel.
My observations show me that skin comes in two shades, light and dark depending 
on ultraviolet protection requirements (except for amphibians).  Scales are 
usually colorful, reflecting bright red, yellow, orange, and green hues.  Bird 
feathers are no exception.  Birds are not color blind and color is important to 
their lives, especially their sex lives for birds in and around dense foliage.
It appears that birds go to all extremes to show off for potential mates.  Some 
blow up air sacks, others develop dances, others have special feathers that 
serve no other purpose.  Still others jump around and flap their wings in the 
mating season.
Now if modern birds are like this, it is reasonable to assume they may have 
gotten it from their ancestors.  A quick moving, active hunting bipedal 
dinosaur appears to need the benefits of a high metabolism.  It makes sense to 
me that they developed some sort of lightweight scale/feather/down to keep them 
warm and then took advantage of its show potential especially around forests.  
I can just see some early male bird ancestors with bright colored downy 
feathers jumping up and down trying to entice a mate.  Who knows, one group 
might have acted like swans and competed against each other by jumping in the 
air over a fern covered forest floor and flapping their arms, trying to stay in 
the sexual spotlight longer than the others.  Enough generations of this could 
lead to longer feathers and short vertical flights. These bird ancestors would 
also use these feathers to slow descent or even glide down to the ground and 
from tree to tree as they developed coordination and flight cont!
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rol.
I call this theory the hot strut theory but I do not believe it is the only 
possibility.