There are gaps between reptiles and birds (Talk.Origins)

Claim CC214:


 * There are no transitional fossils between reptiles and birds.

Source:
 * Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, 1985. Life--How Did It Get Here? Brooklyn, NY, 75.

CreationWiki response:

Note: Talk.Origins has used the worst possible source.

Talk.Origins' bias is quite evident by what they omit. First of all they omit any reference to dates, probably because it blows their entire bird evolution scheme out of the water. The dates of the fossils in question show no evidence of a trend; more modern types coexisted with less modern ones, thus there is no objective order to these fossils. Furthermore, they omitted the bird Protoavis which has been "dated" to 225 Million years which totally blows this dinosaur - bird sequence to pieces. It is only possible to get an evolutionary sequence out of this if one assumes evolution.

Notes:
 * The quotes below from Talk.Origins omit numerous references that were interspersed through the text.
 * Dates shown herein are evolutionary dates, and not accepted by CreationWiki.

Yes, evolutionists have produced several fossils they claim as "intermediates between theropod dinosaurs...and modern birds" but most of these fossils come from China, and thanks to Archaeoraptor it is known that China has an active fake fossil industry. This fact is enough to put all such fossils in doubt until proved otherwise.

Talk.Origins gives no basis for the claim that Allosaurus is in any way transitional between theropod dinosaurs and birds. No data or reference is given to support it, and as such it totally unsubstantiated.

Sinosauropteryx, dated at 120–140 millions years, was a dinosaur. That the "feathers" are not unambiguously such is clear from the fact that they were called frayed collagen fibers by evolutionist Feduccia. Other evolutionists claim that this is "without merit" probably because they prefer to see Sinosauropteryx as transitional. This shows that evolutionists don't agree that Sinosauropteryx is transitional.
 * Reference: Dino-Bird Evolution Falls Flat!
 * Reference: Which came first, the dino or the bird?

Dated at 120 -136 millions of years, Caudipteryx was a flightless bird.
 * Reference: What? Another feathered dinosaur claim?
 * Reference: Caudipteryx

Dated to 125 million years, Beipiaosaurus seems to have been a flightless bird, complete with downy feathers. The downy feathers fibers were similar enough to Sinosauropteryx's frayed collagen fibers to see how they could be confused.
 * Reference: Beipiaosaurus

Dated to about 144 million years, Oviraptorid's birdlike shell of its eggs is a single mosaic trait and one that evolutionists date as after birds already existed. Once again it simply shows that God did not limit his creativity to our modern classification system. The brooding habits are based on the assumption that finding oviraptorid fossils over their eggs was a result of normal behavior. Given the fact that such nests were probably buried by a disaster&mdash;probably the Genesis Flood&mdash;it is likely that the mother Oviraptorids were just trying to protect them from destruction; it may not represent normal behavior.

All troodontids have brains about the size of living flightless birds but large for dinosaurs, suggesting that troodontids are birds rather than dinosaurs.
 * Reference: Troodontidae

Dated at 130 million years, dromaeosaurs were found in China, and did have feathers. More recent fossils have shown definite evidence of flight feathers. The available evidence not only shows that dromaeosaurs had flight feathers but that they could actually fly. It now appears that dromaeosaurs were indeed birds. Furthermore, it can be shown that dromaeosaurs were probably a variety of Archaeopteryx.
 * Reference: Feathered Dinosaurs and the Origin of Flight
 * Reference: Dromaeosaurid Archaeopteryx

Dated at about 144 million years, Sinovenator seems to be a variety of Archaeopteryx.
 * Reference: Troodontidae

Dated at 70–76 million years, Byronosaurus is known only from two skulls and seems to be a variety of Archaeopteryx.
 * Reference: Byronosaurus

Dated to 125.5–130 million years, Microraptor is clearly a bird.
 * Reference: Microraptor

Dated at about 125 million years, Sinornithosaurus seems be a flightless bird.

Which would be consistent with these being birds as well.

Dated at 120-150 millions years, protoarchaeopteryx was a flightless bird.
 * Reference: What? Another feathered dinosaur claim?
 * Reference: Which came first, the dino or the bird?

Dated at 125 million years, Yixianosaurus seems to be a bird known only from a pair of wings.
 * Reference: Yixianosaurus longimanus

Dated to about 70 million years, Alvarezsaurids seem to have been flightless birds. Dated to about 70 million years, Avimimuss seems to have been a flightless bird.
 * Reference: Carnivores: Bird Or Dinosaur?
 * Reference: Avimimus

Dated at 140-150 Million years, Archaeopteryx is older than all other genera on this list, not just the more birdlike ones. All this shows is those genera mentioned above that are more birdlike than Archaeopteryx are also birds.
 * Reference: Archaeopteryx is fully bird


 * Shenzhouraptor is dated at 140 million years.
 * Rahonavis is dated at 65 million years.
 * Yandangornis is dated at 83 million years.
 * Jixiangornis' is dated at about 140 million years.

Whilst they may have had some characteristics that are more birdlike than Archaeopteryx, they also had some that are less birdlike than Archaeopteryx, such as tail length and foot structure. So it depends on which characteristics one looks at as to whether these types are more or less birdlike than Archaeopteryx.
 * Reference: Fossil of Flying 'Dinosaur' Found in Northeast China


 * Sapeornis is dated to about 140 million years.
 * Omnivoropteryx is dated to about 140 million years.
 * confuciusornithids is dated to about 140–150 million years.

These are roughly contemporary with 'Shenzhouraptor, Rahonavis, Yandangornis, Jixiangornis'' and even Archaeopteryx, thus there is no objective order here.

One study "dates" enantiornithines to as early as 176 million years, which would make them older than Archaeopteryx. Due to this most paleornithologists do not accept this study but it shows that the evidence is there.
 * Reference: Enantiornithes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


 * Patagopteryx is dated at about 70 million years. It was a flightless bird.
 * Apsaravis is dated at about 70 million years.
 * No information on yanornithids could be found, not even a date.


 * Hesperornis is dated to as early as about 140 million years.
 * Ichthyornis is dated at about 70 million years.
 * Gansus is dated to as early as about 140 million years.
 * Limenavis is dated at about 70 million years.

These "dates" show that even according to dating methods used by Evolutionists that there is no objective evolutionary order in these fossils. For example more "modern" Hesperornis and Gansus are dated as older than many of the so called more "primitive" types. The result is the order given by Talk Origins fictional construct of what Evolutionists want to be there and not how fossils are actualy found.