[texbirds] Inside the land ruled by Little Dino

From: MBB22222@xxxxxxx
To: texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Fri, 9 Aug 2013 04:29:08 -0400 (EDT)
I know, I know; the dinosaurian origin of birds is still under debate. I am 
 checking on new discoveries from time to time for a long time. Modern  
phylogenies place birds in the dinosaur clade Theropoda and as far as I 
remember  I always have seen birds as surviving dinosaurs being inspired by 
John 
Ostrom's  recognition of the dinosaurian ancestry of birds, along with other 
new ideas  about dinosaur metabolism, activity levels, and parental care. 
BTW, over a  century before Ostrom's published work, Thomas Henry Huxley 
("Darwin's Bulldog")  was the first to propose an evolutionary relationship 
between birds and  dinosaurs. These who might be interested in this subject 
should 
also check  incredible finds, feathered dinosaurs, in China during recent 
years. 
 
Least Terns (Little Dinos in my eyes) are well known for being very  
aggressive when defending breeding grounds. I have seen these Little Dinos  
attacking and chasing away birds of all sizes. From little plovers to Great 
Blue  
Herons. This summer on UTC I took one photo that is, again in my eyes,  
illustrating well dino spirit during the interaction between two living  
dinosaurs in our time. 
 
Least  Tern chasing Willet - a "modern Jurassic" scene. 
 
http://www.pbase.com/mbb/image/151737146
 
And Willet running away from the attacker:
 
http://www.pbase.com/mbb/image/151737233
http://www.pbase.com/mbb/image/151737223
 
Also a few more photos taken this summer:
 
Common Nighthawk defense posture (during Little Dino's attacks) near its  
nest (both species had nests very close to each other, very interesting case 
to  observe)
 
http://www.pbase.com/mbb/image/151737045
http://www.pbase.com/mbb/image/151737046
 
And Least Tern chasing Laughing Gull. 
 
http://www.pbase.com/image/151737042
 
Mark B Bartosik
Houston, Texas
http://www.pbase.com/mbb/from_the_field
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[texbirds] Inside the land ruled by Little Dino

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