An Avian Time Machine...

By now you know how obsessed I am with dino-birds, even if you still refuse to read my book (we'll get to that later). Fossil remains of Sandhill Cranes have been dated back to 2.5 million years, and fossils of closely related, possibly even directly related specimens have been dated back to the Miocene Epoch (some 10 million years ago). This extends the species' family tree back further than any living bird. Still about 50-some million years short of a true dino-bird, but old enough to have earned a measure of our respect and admiration.

Listen to this critter and tell me you don't hear the faint echo of a Velociraptor calling to you from somewhere back on its family tree:

You can learn more about this ancient species over at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Now I know you haven't read my book, Little Birdies!, because I've seen the sales figures. If you have a Kindle, the e-version of the book will set you back all of $2.99. That's the fruit of a full year of my life for less than the cost of a Starbucks "grande." Seriously, that's incredibly depressing. Are you afraid it's not going to be worth the money? Afraid you're not going to enjoy the story? Look, if you're here listening to the call of a Sandhill Crane, believe me, you'll enjoy this book. I wrote it for you, I really did. You can read the opening chapters here, skim some of the reviews here. And you can purchase the book here. Please, if not for me, do it for the birds; they're smarter (and far more tenacious) then you might think...