RE: The origin of flight: from the water up (still short!)

["Edels" <edels@email.msn.com>]

Jim:

David has proposed (or more properly, echoed a proposal) that the feathered
maniraptors spent some time in the water - significant enough time to allow
them to learn the flight stroke by 'flying' in the water, which they then
used the same way when they were in the air - therefore: powered flight.
(That's POWER as opposed to POWDERED - which is good for donuts, not
birds/dino-birds. :-))

David's assumptions about the way the maniraptors would behave in the water
are based, it appears, on the idea that many animals move much more slowly
in water (due to drag? - you would be better qualified than I to discuss
that).

AFAIK, _Archaeopteryx_ did not appear to have the stiffening structures
(ossified tendons) that some dromaeosaurs had, and the tail feathers do not
appear to be solidly interlinked.  This would seem to indicate that the tail
was somewhat flexible and not necessarily rigid, as proposed.  (BTW, the
Archie specimens [copies] that I've seen do not show the post-mortem
curvature that appears in some dinosaurs - i.e. where the neck curls towards
the back and the tail curls towards the front - toward each other over the
back).

BTW: Cormorants (usually in groups of three) frequent a few small lakes near
me.  This is private land, not national parkland. However, the lakes are 1/2
mile from, and directly in view of the Police Station (and a road from the
station runs between the lakes).  We also get quite a few ducks and geese
there, as well as a Great Blue Heron, and on rare occasions, a Snowy Egret.
Not bad for 25 minutes Northeast of Philadelphia (PA - USA).

I don't think the FUCHSIA scenario brings much to the table, other than a
possible means of learning the flight stroke.  I don't think it explains the
short tails of Pygostylia.  For one thing, I think that Archie was fully
capable of flight, even with his long bony tail.  'He' may have been awkward
compared to modern birds, but I think the flight was there.  Feduccia even
calculated that Archie could fly - even without endothermy.  Archie seems to
be right on the cusp of so many things - just enough energy and feathers to
fly either as an endotherm or an ectotherm, just right between birds and
dinosaurs.

My two point five cents (minor inflation - Have you been to a gas pump
lately?!?!? :-))

Allan Edels