Big Birds

A couple of hours ago or so, I updated the favicon. I drew it in black and white to match the color scheme. It was my second attempt. The first one sucked.

It's a Thunderbird. Or a Phoenix. Or both.

Here is a short video clip of a big bird backing up a gator, probably in Louisiana based on the YouTube handle. That bird is likely four or five feet tall.

According to copilot, dragonflies get up to a five inch wingspan today. That's in the neighborhood of my recollection of around four inches, so probably not just made up fiction.

Also according to copilot, prehistoric dragonflies had wingspans up to thirty inches. That's two and a half feet and is about what I recall.

I don't know how long ago that was and I don't really feel up to trying to figure out ANY of the following:

1. How gradually did they shrink? Were they, say, still a foot in wingspan when humans began?

2. How much of that is due to heavier atmosphere supporting more body weight for flight and how much of that is because bugs like that lack lungs and absorb oxygen through the skin?

3. How old are the stories of Native Americans? I know they passed on history orally and when White people showed up the current Salton Sea was a dry valley but geological evidence and Native stories both agreed there used to be a lake there at some time in the past prior to the lifetimes of the people saying that.

I think odds are extremely high we used to have bigger birds when the Earth was younger and the atmosphere was heavier and better able to support flight for relatively large creatures.

I don't think Natives made up Thunderbirds via pipe dreams on peyote and marijuana.

May the peoples of this continent whose lands were stolen rise from the ashes. They are probably better people than the crap in the White House today.

No offense intended to the people. I'm aware that is a very low bar. But I'm tired and mostly wanting to commemorate the extremely important milestone of updating the favicon.