Tag Archives: Extinct

Bahama Birds After Hurricane Dorian

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Bahama Yellowthroat (Geothlypis rostrata) ©WikiC

Bahama Yellowthroat (Geothlypis rostrata) ©WikiC

As you know, over the Labor Day week-end and beyond, hurricane Dorian “parked” over the Bahamas. Many people have lost their lives and the count will take quite a while to access the true count of lost lives.

BirdWatching has an article that tells about the “grave concern” for the birds in those islands. I thought you might find this article very sad and concerning also. It is worth reading.

After Dorian “Grave Concern” Birds of Northern Bahamas

Bananaquit (Coereba flaveola) by Raymond Barlow

Bananaquit (Coereba flaveola) by Raymond Barlow

“I know every bird of the mountains, And everything that moves in the field is Mine.” (Psalms 50:11 NASB)

The Lord is in control of these hurricanes, and because of the curse, things like this happen. When the earth is renewed, things like this will not happen.

Our hearts go out to those who have lost family members, or were spared, but lost everything. We have church members whose families in the Bahamas were spared, but 70% of them lost all.

“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.” (Proverbs 3:5-7 KJV)

Now That’s A Parrot – Squawkzilla

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Meet ‘Squawkzilla,’ the massive prehistoric parrot scientists say terrorized other birds

A reconstruction of Heracles inexpectatus, the New Zealand parrot. The team initially thought the fossils belonged to a giant eagle. Photograph: Brian Choo/Flinders University

“Fossils of the largest parrot ever recorded have been found in New Zealand. Estimated to have weighed about 7kg (1.1st), it would have been more than twice as heavy as the kākāpo, previously the largest known parrot.” (The Guardian)

Kakapo (Strigops habroptila) ©WikiC showing whiskers around beak

Kakapo (Strigops habroptila) ©WikiC showing whiskers around beak

“Palaeontologists have named the new species Heracles inexpectatus to reflect its unusual size and strength and the unexpected nature of the discovery.

Prof Trevor Worthy of Flinders University in Australia, the lead author of the research published in the journal Biology Letters, said: “Once we decided it was something new and interesting, the challenge was to figure out what family it was from.

“Because no giant parrots have been found previously, parrots were not on our radar – thus it took some time to differentiate all other birds essentially from parrots to conclude that the unique suite of characters was definitive of a parrot.”

Paul Scofield, a senior curator of natural history at Canterbury Museum, said the fossil had been excavated in 2008, and initially the team had thought the bones were part of a giant eagle.”

From the Washington Post: “The large bones, believed to be the bones of an ancient eagle, flew under the radar for a decade. It was during a research project in the lab of Flinders University paleontologist Trevor Worthy that a graduate student rediscovered the bones. After that, a team of researchers began reanalyzing the findings earlier this year, according to the BBC.

“It was completely unexpected and quite novel,” Worthy, the study’s lead author, told National Geographic. “Once I had convinced myself it was a parrot, then I obviously had to convince the world.”

Kea (Nestor notabilis) by Ian #1

Kea (Nestor notabilis) by Ian

Researchers concluded that the bird probably couldn’t fly and consumed what was along the ground and easy to reach, according to National Geographic. But that might not have been enough to satiate the giant parrot.

It’s possible the bird had more carnivorous ways, like another New Zealand parrot, the kea, which has been known to attack and subsequently munch upon living sheep, the magazine reported.


Keas, the world’s only alpine parrots, are native to New Zealand’s South Island. (Erin E. Williams for The Washington Post)

Michael Archer, a co-author of the research and paleontologist at the University of New South Wales, told National Geographic that heracles might have even been eating other parrots, giving way to a nickname: “Squawkzilla.”

Archer told Agence France-Presse the bird had “a massive parrot beak that could crack wide open anything it fancied.”

Heracles probably won’t be the final unforeseen fossil from the St. Bathans area, Worthy told AFP. The researchers have turned up many surprising birds and animals over the years.

“No doubt there are many more unexpected species yet to be discovered in this most interesting deposit,” Worthy said.”

Washington Post Article about Heracles inexpectatus.

Kakapo (Strigops habroptila) ©Dept of Conservation-To See Relative Size

Kakapo (Strigops habroptila) ©Dept of Conservation-To See Relative Size

Of course, those of us on this blog do not believe in millions of years, but that the Lord created everything, including this humongous Parrot. National Geographic says “The flightless ‘squawkzilla’ stood three feet tall and was twice the weight of the kakapo, the heaviest parrot alive today.”

“Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name.” (Genesis 2:19 NKJV)

Other’s with the same basic information:

Kakapo (Strigops habroptila) ©Dept of Conservation

Kakapo (Strigops habroptila) ©Dept of Conservation

Save The Parrots

Where Are You From? Part II

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Replica of Mayflower in Plymouth, Massachusetts ©WikiC

In Where Are You From? [Part I], the birds and my ancestry were both mentioned. Since we have not done much birdwatching lately other than through my window, my time has been spent looking for my ancestors.

Of course, since Creation is how God created the birds and humans, there are no birds in my Ancestorial Tree!! That is a given. I do have a Buzzard [Catherine] listed in Dan’s tree. A Hawk [Susannah] in my tree, and that is about it. The rest are normal human names.

Rough-legged Buzzard (Buteo lagopus) chicks ©USFWS

What is so amazing is how many people [my ancestors] that it took for me to come into existence. If anyone of them had died before they had the child that would be my ancestor was born, I wouldn’t be writing this article. That thought is awesome. God is so merciful and sovereign in His dealings with us. What Grace!

Today I found another ancestor who was on the Mayflower. This one really came close to not making it. This article explains how he fell overboard on the voyage to America: Meet John Howland, a lucky Pilgrim who populated America with 2 million descendants. Here is another interesting article about him on Wikipedia.

“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,” (Ephesians 2:4 NKJV)

The birds we watch today also come from their ancestors. Had one group died out, as they have, then that branch of birds is extinct. As beautiful as the birds are today, what would they be like had those not become extinct? Interesting thought.

Dodo (Raphus cucullatus) Extinct by Wikipedia

Dodo (Raphus cucullatus) Extinct by Wikipedia

The children today who are prevented from being born would have had many descendants in the future. A quote from the article above:

“Howland and his eventual wife, fellow Mayflower passenger Elizabeth Tilley, had 10 children and more than 80 grandchildren. Now, an estimated 2 million Americans can trace their roots to him.

Howland’s direct descendants include three presidents — Franklin Roosevelt, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush — as well as former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin; poets Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow; actors Alec Baldwin, Humphrey Bogart, and Christopher Lloyd; Mormon church founder Joseph Smith; and child care guru Dr Benjamin Spock.

“The idea that the existence of all these people hinged on that one guy grabbing a rope in the ocean and holding on tight totally caught my imagination,”

The rope with the

The rope with the “Chatterbox” aboard. [Great nephew]

“I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus,” (1 Corinthians 1:4 NKJV)

**Updated**

See Where Are You From? II – Corrected

A Surprise For The Evolutionary Scientist!

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EVOLUTIONARY SCIENTISTS FIND A SURPRISE!

“Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not expect Him.” Matthew 24:44

Painting: Passenger PigeonAccording to the Bible’s history, human beings were created perfectly by God about 6,000 years ago. We should note that this means we were not only morally perfect, but genetically perfect as well. According to evolutionists, our ancestors split off from the monkeys millions of years ago. Both viewpoints agree that each generation of human beings adds mutations to the ongoing human gene pool.

How many mutations are added by each human generation? Researchers with the University of Sussex and the University of Edinburgh looked for the answer to this question. They examined DNA from living parents and children, as well as known mutation rates for mammals. They assumed that some mutations would be fatal and thus not added to the overall gene pool. They also assumed that a very few mutations might be helpful, an assumption that has never be demonstrated to be true. They finally calculated that 100 harmful mutations are added to the human gene pool by each generation. Their published conclusion was that, considering the millions of years humans have been evolving, we should have easily accumulated enough mutations to make us extinct a long time ago!

This research is clear evidence for a recent appearance of man, and implies that the Earth was created a relatively short time ago, as portrayed by the Genesis. However, human life on Earth will end when Jesus Christ returns to collect all believers to live in a new heavens and Earth.

Prayer:
Lord, Your Word is true so I eagerly await Your return for me. Amen.
Notes:
Notes: Nature, 1/28/99, “High genomic deleterious mutation rates in hominids,” pp. 344-347. Photo: The passenger pigeon, one of hundreds of species of extinct birds. (PD)
Used with permission of Creation Moments©2018

Passenger Pigeon (Ectopistes † migratorius †) ©WikiC Specimen

Dodo Bird – Not A Failure

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Dodo (Raphus cucullatus) Extinct by Wikipedia

Dodo (Raphus cucullatus) Extinct by Wikipedia

The dodo (Raphus cucullatus) was a flightless bird endemic to the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius. Related to pigeons and doves, it stood about a meter (3 feet) tall, weighing about 20 kilograms (44 lb), living on fruit, and nesting on the ground.

The dodo has been extinct since the mid-to-late 17th century.[1] It is commonly used as the archetype of an extinct species because its extinction occurred during recorded human history and was directly attributable to human activity.

The dodo bird … an example of survival of the fittest

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