Never made sense to me that Evolution occurs slow because this directly contradicts ensuring survival. If changes occur slow how did species survived? If it takes 1000 years by then whole species died.

I admit, I'm not not knowledgeable about evolution. That was a bad example there. I'm interested in it learning more about it though.

It just seems that any random protrusion in an animal that isn't fully functioning would be a disadvantage. It's just speculation though!

It just seems weird to me that the laws of nature 'just are' and that it can make something so complex by accident even over a long span.

Plato thought that their was a 'realm of perfect forms' (non physical). This is kind of hard to explain but think of it this way... If conciousness had always existed (which is my view) then it would already know all the possible forms of existance. When a thing was ready to evolve, it could easily use one of these forms without "in betweens", if necessary.

I know a lot about philosophy and some types of science, but not much about biology or evolution. Philosophy is where I get my view. I can't help it... I'm an Intj.

sometimes there will be a naturally occurring abnormality that works but mostly it's a drawn-out process due to habitat change hence humans standing upright when their forest getting deppleated.

Like many people, you've made the mistake of thinking modern birds evolved from modern fish (that's not your fault; the over-simplified way that evolution is taught in schools - or in those schools located in places that aren't so backward as to have banned the teaching of evolution, anyway - has this effect). Rather than "fish evolves into fish/bird thing, which evolves into bird", it works by "common ancestor species of modern fish and birds evolves into two separate species, both of which then evolve into further species which eventually evolve into modern fish and birds".

Though evolution tends to be gradual, in the right circumstances it can happen very rapidly. Say, for example, a small number of birds are caught in a storm and are blown far out to sea, eventually landing on an island where the fruit upon which they usually feed doesn't grow. There's a different kind of fruit on the island, but it's protected by a very hard outer layer and the birds can't get through it, so they have to wait for the fruit to fall from the trees and break open on the rocks below and, as a result, for most of the year they don't have enough to eat and are soon in very poor condition. However, thanks to a chance mutation, a few of the birds have much stronger, sharper beaks which enable them to rip through the outer layer of the fruit. Because of this, they can access food all year round and are in much better condition than all the other birds, which makes them far more desirable to potential mates. Since they carry the stronger, sharper beak genes, some of their offspring will also have stronger, sharper beaks and will also be healthier and more desirable, as will their offspring. Since any birds that don't have the new beaks are more likely to die without passing on their weaker, blunter beak genes, within only a few generations all the birds being born on the island will have the new beaks.

The more stressed a species is, the faster they are forced to evolve to adapt (unless it's too quick like the asteroids that wiped out whole species). So yeah, I certainly would expect that the pace of evolution varies.

Well, birds evolved from dinosaurs, so dio’s would be the link to fish… It’s been noticed that evolution can occur rapidly, especially within diminished or isolated gene pools. I suspect it’s happening at lightspeed among many species right now, including our own.

As far as our cosmic purpose… sounds a lot like Theism to this Atheist ~

The important thing to remember about "in between" fossils, or transitional fossils is this:

Every fossil ever discovered is a transitional fossil, unless, of course, the animal represented by the fossil went extinct!!

Proof of an animal part way between a fish and a bird? Dinosaurs, specifically theropods, would fit in that category. Birds evolved from theropods. It was the dinosaurs, after all, that first developed (evolved) feathers.

Evolution occurs slowly for the most part, but there are specific periods of Earth's history where evolution occurred at an accelerated pace. This often happens during and immediately after a mass extinction event. Essentially, rapid evolution can occur whenever there is a significant change to an organism's natural habitat. There are really only three choices when this happens -- adapt, relocate, or die.

Here, from Discover magazine, is a graphic showing three examples of rapid evolution.

Well, both. However, you can't suddenly get a huge spurt as you propose because that would involve a huge change in an organism's genes. The chances of an organism giving birth to something with that many mutated genes ... and it still being viable ... is zero. Sometimes a mutation to a few genes can indeed lead to pretty much a new animal, but nothing that dramatic. The only example I can think of off hand is the domestic cat, there was some research awhile back that the domestic cat arose because a single African Wildcat had three mutant genes that made it non-aggressive towards humans. It wandered into an Egyptian village, the villagers said, wow, look, that wildcat isn't afraid of people ... AND LOOK WHAT IT'S DOING TO THE RATS IN THE GRANARY!! The rest is history. OK, the later part is my conjecture, but not the three mutations part.

Penguins?

[wired.com]

This article says evolution is slower than it looks and faster than you think.

The speed of evolution is relative to the speed of change in the environment. For example the biological arms race between predators and prey can take 1000's of years with each developing new traits to either protect the prey or help the hunter catch it's food.

You may also look at it this way adaptation and evolution occur at a rate that is proportional to the rate of multiplication of that species. Bacteria may take months to years to develop resistance to antibacterials but it may takes 100's to 1000's of years for a plant to develop resistance to an herbicide

Evolution is a fantastic subject to study and once understood is a real eye opener, and is the fundamental science behind medicine and all biology of every living thing.
Even if you were to just study the evolution of your example, birds, the feather has an amazing history. Spoiler alert, Dinosaurs. I wish you all the best in your journey of discovery.

Both.
"An animal part way between a fish and a bird," About all life is in transition but fish don't turn into birds. Dinosaurs did and there are fossils of such.

Both. It depends on the suddenness and degree of environmental change, and on the impact of specific mutations.

Reproduction rates must be a factor, of not the most important factor.