Things With Wings

[poliphilo]

 It sounds as if we've got the builders in. 

And so we have. Sort of.

Starlings.

There's a gap in the facia where the peg tiles (I think that's the proper name) have fallen away- and they nested there last year as well. You wouldn't think such small creatures could make so much noise. 

Talking about things with wings, I found a story this morning about how they're digging up the remains of giant pterosaurs in Transylvania. These things had huge heads and moved about on all fours- like some bats do. The tallest stood as high as a giraffe with a wingspan of 39 feet.  Really? Well, if the scientists say so it must be true. 

Comments

[conuly]

The tallest stood as high as a giraffe with a wingspan of 39 feet. Really? Well, if the scientists say so it must be true.

Well, humans and pterosaurs missed each other by quite a while, but you can't judge animal sizes in the past based on the starlings you see out your window today. One of the first things humans did as we developed intelligence was systematically hunt down all the megafauna in our local neighborhood. There used to be more of it, and it was bigger.

[poliphilo]

I'm quite excited about the plans that seem to be afoot to bring back the mammoth.

Bringing back pterosaurs would be a lot trickier- but I don't see why we shouldn't have the science to do it one of these days.

[conuly]

Aside from the fact that DNA degrades too fast, you mean?

[poliphilo]

Today's impossible things may be quite possible tomorrow.

Our science is still in the dark ages.

[shewhomust]

You wouldn't think such small creatures could make so much noise...

I know this isn't what you're talking about, but still: birds, such tiny lungs, such loud songs!

[poliphilo]

There's that as well.

It gets really noisy around here sometimes.