Birds Defy Evolution Tales

Birds are not dumb, but
evolutionists are dumbfounded
when trying to evolve them

 

Today we observe two kinds of science: (1) empirical science, that relies on observation, and (2) evolutionary science, that relies on storytelling. The former increases scientists’ admiration for these magnificent creatures. The latter leaves scientists baffled and confused.

Wondrous Facts of Observation

Big birds like emus are technical innovators, according to University of Bristol researchers (University of Bristol, 20 Feb 2025). ‘Dumb birds no more,’ began Phys.org‘s copy of this headline. The university press release says, “Large birds – our closest relations to dinosaurs – are capable of technical innovation and can solve a physical task to gain access to food.” Dr Fay Clark at Bristol debunked a common narrative that emus are dumb by designing a complex task they had to solve to get food.

“The problem? The more we study the same species repeatedly, the more we create an ‘echo chamber’ of knowledge and create a false impression that other species are less ‘intelligent’ but in reality they haven’t been studied to the same level.”

Did evolutionary theory help the team’s assessment of these big, smart birds? Evolution is only mentioned once in a negative sense: “technical innovation may have evolved far earlier in birds than previously thought.” [Thought by whom? by dumbfounded evolutionists.] Such a statement only squeezes the miracle of intelligence into fewer Darwin Years.

Seabirds: Energy efficiency and foraging on the high seas (Current Biology, 24 Feb 2025). In this dispatch, Canadian scientist Kyle H. Elliott from McGill University writes about “unexpected sophistication” in seabirds like the Manx shearwater that “strategically balance energy costs against the need to reach a fixed goal: food or their home” as they glide over vast stretches of trackless ocean. Whether in mild wind or strong wind, the birds have a knack for adjusting their aerodynamics for maximum efficiency.

The findings of Harris and colleagues imply that shearwaters have a detailed understanding of their foraging landscape, extending beyond the limits of direct sensory perception. This cognitive capacity enables them to integrate past experiences with real-time environmental cues, optimizing their foraging strategies to balance short-term efficiency with long-term gain — thus challenging simplistic models of animal movement that assume uniform responses to environmental conditions.

No need for evolutionary theory here. Elliott only mentions the e-word briefly, being baffled by “intriguing questions about the evolutionary pressures that have shaped seabird cognition, including their sophisticated navigation and memory capabilities.” As is so common among Darwin Party loyalists, he stashes the answer in “future research.”

How AI is revealing the language of the birds (Nature, 21 Feb 2025). Whenever Nature is not busy glorifying Charles Darwin and writing execration texts against Donald Trump, it occasionally publishes some good science. This Darwin-free article by Emily Bates gives a fascinating account of scientists recording crows to understand what “caw” means when the birds croak it in a variety of ways. Crows are the geniuses of bird intelligence. In a video clip in the article, two scientists in Spain are collecting thousands of recordings of crow calls and, with help from a computer analyst, using AI to figure out their “language.”

The team, appearing cheerful and happy to be doing empirical science, describe how they are learning that crow language is much more complex than thought. Previously, researchers had recorded calls from a distance and had not considered the very soft vocalizations that occur between birds up close, such as when nesting. “Every time we try to look at something, we find something new,” one scientist says; the other finds the discoveries “fascinating and interesting,” showing that science can be fun again without Darwin.

Birds Defy Evolution Tales

Birds Have Developed Complex Brains Independently from Mammals (Univ. of the Basque Country, 14 Feb 2025). The neighbors of the above researchers in Spain are stuck on Darwin’s wavelength. These Basque scientists rely on the e-word evolution 20 times to describe a miracle they choose to believe in: that birds “have developed complex brains independently from mammals.”

This all indicates that these structures and circuits are not homologous, but rather the result of convergent evolution, meaning that ”they have independently developed these essential neural circuits through different evolutionary paths.“

Did birds hold a committee and decide to do this? Actually, the Basque Darwinians believe two miracles: convergence and divergence. These are two essential ingredients in Darwin Flubber, a magical substance that supports any evolutionary fairy tale.

Why some birds divorce and others partner for life (Macquarie University, 7 Jan 2025). Science can observe that some birds mate for life, and others do not. But to call the latter “divorce” commits a category error, because God never ordered a male bird to “leave its father and mother and cleave to its wife” like he did for humans. Yet Macquarie University’s magazine (ironically called The Lighthouse, but the light went out), feels obligated to stuff the observation into Darwin’s categories.

Understanding why birds stay together or part ways can reveal fascinating insights into how evolution shapes this behaviour.

OK, then, where is the understanding? Where is the insight? Read the article and you will find that the Darwinians trying to answer the “why” question have no idea. Watch for it: the understanding, like a mirage, is again out there in the mythical land of futureware:

The study found no evidence of short-term fitness benefits from divorcing, and the long-term consequences appear to be mainly negative for females who lose their breeding position.

It’s not a bug; it’s futureware.

Our research shows the love lives of birds are more intricate than we might have imagined.

By studying these patterns, scientists hope to gain deeper insights into the adaptive strategies birds use to survive and thrive in their natural habitats.

Future research will continue to explore whether divorce is a strategic move for birds’ survival – or just a consequence of challenging circumstances.

The Darwin Party scientists shouldn’t be surprised that bird mating habits differ. Birds are not a single species of being, like Homo sapiens, and were never given a stewardship role over creation. They have very different bodies and lifestyles, and inhabit a huge range of environments. Why attribute their habits to evolution as some kind of goddess that “shapes” their behavior? Does this explain the observations? No! They said it doesn’t. They didn’t get any “deeper insights” from the goddess Tinker Bell. The mating habits of birds are more intricate than they “might have imagined.”

That’s the problem; stop imagining, and start observing nature without the Darwin glasses on, like the scientists in Spain did.

The origin of feathers remains a mystery (Natural History Museum, 19 Feb 2025). London’s famous Natural History Museum should be a showcase of bird evolution. But here, James Ashworth admits, “Feathers have a diverse range of shapes, roles and colours in modern birds, but their evolutionary origins are uncertain.” Here’s the treasure trove of insight that Darwin gave his disciples:

Did all dinosaurs inherit feathers from a common ancestor, or did feathers evolve multiple times in the group? Are they exclusive to birds and their closest relatives, or are they more widespread across the reptile family tree? At the moment, the jury’s still out.

These details are all “shrouded in mystery,” Ashworth says. The whole article consists mostly of questions concerning a “decades-old debate” about the origin of feathers. But mysteries are often beneficial for Darwinians; they give them more plot lines for storytelling.

For an alternative view, listen to the 12 Feb 2025 presentation by Joel Tay (Logos Research Associates) about whether birds are dinosaurs. He begins talking about Archaeopteryx and feathers at minute 56.

Birds Defy Evolution Tails, Too

Jurassic Fossil Discovery in East China Sheds New Light on Origin of Birds (Chinese Academy of Sciences, 12 Feb 2025). Get ready for another evolution tale built on artist conceptions. Feathered-dinosaur pushers Xing Xu and Zhonghe Zhou are at it again, showcasing the latest fossil which they announced in Nature. This one, however, gives Darwin headaches: it doesn’t shed light, it screens it. The tail doesn’t fit the tale.

“This is a groundbreaking discovery. It overturns the previous situation that Archaeopteryx was the only bird found in the Jurassic Period,” said Zhou Zhonghe, an academician of CAS.

They call it Baminornis zhenghensis, a quail-sized bird (it’s a bird, it’s plain). Evolutionists had been telling us that the earliest birds, like Archaeopteryx, had long tails, and that more “evolved” birds had short tails. Well, this one had a short tail and yet they date it earlier than Archaeopteryx. And it probably flew better.

“Its shortened tail and more advanced structure in its scapula lead us to believe that its flying ability was superior to that of Archaeopteryx. However, due to the incomplete fossil, we are unable to determine its exact flying posture,” Wang said.

Quail-sized feathered dinosaur may be the earliest known bird (New Scientist, 12 Feb 2025). The early bird gets the squirm. James Woodford calls Baminornis the earliest known bird, possibly. It “lived around 150 million [Darwin] years ago and had a short tail like those of modern birds.” So is evolution falsified? Of course not. Darwinists just squirm and rearrange the phylogenetic tree. “The discovery shows that the short tails characteristic of modern birds evolved much earlier than previously thought.” [Thought by whom? by dumbfounded Darwinists.]

Baminornis lived at the same time as Archaeopteryx but it has a short tail like those of modern birds, pushing back the date of this evolutionary innovation by 20 million years.

“A short tail is widely regarded as aerodynamically beneficial, and the reduction of the tail constitutes the most dramatic change during the dinosaurs-bird transition,” says Min Wang at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, a member of the team that analysed the fossil.

Isn’t it strange that most of the feathered dinosaurs always show up in China and that Xing Xu always shows up with them?

If the feathered-dinosaur fossil racket ever becomes a scandal, don’t forget how many years they have been relying on these specimens for evolutionary stories. For now, we have to take the scientists at their word, but it’s fair to ask questions and maintain skepticism. Big frauds going on for decades are not without precedent in the history of science (see Jerry Bergman’s book Evolution’s Blunders, Frauds, and Forgeries). An investigative reporter should take up this matter.

We repeat our comment from 28 July 2011:

Another question is rarely asked: why are these “feathered dinosaurs” all coming from one man, Xing Xu?  (05/01/2010, 10/01/2009.)  If feathers and flight were such a hot ticket in the evolution innovation contest, why are they all coming from Liaoning Province? Why has the only other site on the planet been Bavaria, where only Archaeopteryx, not these other diverse kinds, appears? The world is a big place. Surely there are other sites where these creatures would have flown the Chinese coop, if that is where they evolved. And why are so many of the weird fossils coming from dealers? There’s absolutely no chance that Xing has a vested interest in becoming famous for these discoveries. He unmasked Archaeoraptor, didn’t he? That proves he is Mr. Honesty. He could not possibly have ulterior motives; he would never want to unmask a hoax to perpetrate a better hoax, or learn from the mistakes of the earlier hoaxster, to prop up his own credibility. Look; all evolutionary paleontologists trust him and his lab workers implicitly. Isn’t that enough for you? And there is no motivation on the part of Chinese artisans to bring him spectacular fossils with feathers on them. Look away; there’s nothing to see here.