[muawiyah]

Thanks.

Feathered dinosaur to winged dinosaur with feathers on four limbs to birds with feathers on four limbs to birds withfeathers on two limbs.

Add a little brain development in there to provide the processing systems necessary to control two-winged flight and you've got modern birds.

So, why parrots?

[raygunfan]

Bwahaha...yeah, piece a cake...

[Obama_Is_Sabotaging_America]

Feathers on four limbs:

[Dysart]

Why Parrots? Open question there, but I will answer what I think you mean. I see Parrots as I do Mockingbirds. Both mimics but with different diet and thus adaptive beaks. All songs serve the same dual purpose in birds. I think mimics are more evolved. Clearly higher processing is required to replicate other species' songs. We know, or it is believed, that mimic behavior is used to attract mates and communicate territorial claims. Further, it has been shown that Mockingbirds with the best repertoire of songs (esp males) have better breeding success than those more limited. So, I would assume the same would be true with Parrots- although I have studied Mockingbirds as a hobbyist but not Parrots. But in the same way mimic behavior and the higher intelligence required to produce it would be an adaptive advantage, right? ie, the female would select the best and smartest genes to pass along in response to this behavior.

[Ramius]

Perhaps the better question is: why -not- parrots?

And maybe the answer to two wings instead of four was just because two was all it took?