Birds: Big, Small and Cassowaries



Photo taken with cell phone

 I thoroughly enjoyed reading Birdology by Sy Montgomery. I learned a lot about birds, and she made it all seem fascinating.

One of the most intriguing birds she wrote about were the cassowaries, large creatures which can be as tall as 5 ft. and are descended from dinosaurs.

The author mentions that she had traveled to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh specifically to see the remains of one of these often-dangerous birds. Well, since the museum is just down the street a ways we visited and found this stuffed version of a cassowary on display with other bird species. Cassowaries can be found these days in Australia and New Guinea.

But in the Museum's new Dinosaur in Their Time exhibit, we saw the skeletal remains of this bird's predecessor, which is a lot longer, taller and even more mean-looking if that's possible.

If you like birds, take a look at Birdology. It's a fun read.