How did evolution produce birds? From an article in Reuters it seems dinosaurs were the result of “shrinking” a dinosaur for 50 million years.
A recent story, source not known, reported that feathers have been a more common feature of dinosaurs than previously thought. Not used for flight, they were possibly for insulation or display.
Gradual changes over millions of years allowed small dinosaurs adapt to prevailing conditions and survive the cataclysm that destroyed most dinosaur lineages.

From a very early age I have been fond of dinosaurs, those large meat eating dinos that filled the cartoons I watched or books I read. On the other hand I have only known birds as messy filthy creatures that pooped on everything spreading disease and pestilence everywhere. To find out that birds are descended from dinosaurs came as a great disappointment. To learn that many dinosaurs that were depicted without feathers, in actuality had feathers, was also saddening.

Really though, if you think about it, it should not be so disappointing. When you realize we are in some small way related to all other life every where on this planet, then regardless if it was a direct line from dinosaurs to birds, the relation is irrelevant. Even we have some relation way, way, back to the big thunder lizards.