Re: K/T birds

["Ray Stanford" <dinotracker@earthlink.net>]

    John Bois said, "...I know the fossil record doesn't indicate this yet.
But, if and when it does, it will also indicate that neornithes were more
effective competitors, not the lucky survivors of a fluke event."

    Aren't retrocognitive crystal balls a great innovation?  :-}

    John further said, "...In any case, why, if a considerable diversity of
birds survived in the south, didn't some of their non avian brethren share
their good fortune."  Presumably a question mark was intended, but not
placed, at the end of that sentence, so my response is:

    Perhaps we should consider the fact that non-avians deposited their nest
and, thus, eggs, on the ground, where the eggshells might have become
'fatally' corroded by water from the highly acid rains that were the
inevitable result of the K/T impact.  On the other hand, avians may have
built their nests in trees or at higher elevations safe from the flood
waters of acid rain.  Since the acid rain is not speculation, doesn't this
seem a reasonable inference?

    By the way, the K/T impact strongly effected both hemispheres.  However,
due to hemispheric air circulation patterns and the location of the impact,
it is very probable that the northern hemisphere was more severely effected,
including rains that were more acid than those in the south.  However, acid
ground waters in the southern hemisphere should still have been a serious
danger to egg shells.

    Ray Stanford

"You know my method.  It is founded upon the observance of trifles." --
Sherlock Holmes in The Boscombe Valley Mystery

----- Original Message -----
From: "John Bois" <jbois@umd5.umd.edu>
To: "Daniel Bensen" <dbensen@gotnet.net>
Cc: "The Dinosaur Mailing List" <dinosaur@usc.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, December 18, 2001 10:51 PM
Subject: Re: K/T birds
...