Man, you were fed a whole lot of slow hanging curve balls on this thread! LOL.
Now back to the birds, the flightless cormorant in the Galapagos specifically. Specialization can be a detriment to survival (general_re taught me that g). It's why I'm a self made "renaiassance guy" (wink,wink). A bird that can fly and swim while looking for lunch and and dumping eggs hither and yond would seem to have an advantage.
I have no a priori conivctions one way or the other. I'm just looking for a sound hypothesis. I'm considering yours.
Check with bro, see what he thinks. I can be convinced!