As you know, I believe the global flood of Noah's day explains the order sometimes seen (as I've indicated above, the complete succession is rarely ever seen). The first fossils are generally marine life as you have indicated, then in higher levels land animals are found. With the catastrophic global flood model, the flood began in the ocean ("on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened" - Genesis 7:11), bringing the ocean waters (and it's contents) up onto the continents. The animals up on these continents were then buried subsequently as the waters came inland. This fits the sequence and also fits why so many fossils are found all over the earth (rapid burial) and fits why marine fossils are found up in higher strata across entire continents and in mountainous areas. There are no perfect models in either paradigm - there are still nuances that both creationists and conventional secular scientists are researching to understand better. I also believe the flood is what broke up the continents, explaining their placement/movement today, and the formation of many mountain ranges we also see today. The fact that there most often gaps in the faunal succession is consistent with what one would expect given a catastrophic world-wide event like the flood.
In the fossil record we find evidence of living creatures that once existed, some of which is now extinct. We see dinosaurs that look like dinosaurs, we see birds that look like birds, humans that look like humans, etc... Bringing up 'reptile-like birds' is again, the extremely rare exception to the rule, and I'll point out is a result of one's interpretation. By in large, transitional fossils (even when there are the greatest of hopes of finding) are simply just not found. Interesting your bring up the Cambrian layer as this seems to be a layer of life with no precursor - just "poof" complex life from nowhere. Scientists taught under the conventional paradigm of deep time recognize this and have called it the 'Cambrian explosion'.
The fossil record does not seem to be a good friend of evolution. When I stop to think about it, I would expect to find a vast variety of fossils that simply do not really look like anything else. Of the supposed billions of species that have existed, how many transitional forms to get back to the first molecule? There should literally be trillions of fossil variations working their way from that first molecule - there would be all of these transitional forms (constantly changing, morphing, becoming the 'better model'), but as I've already stated above, this is not the case. Bird fossils have been found right alongside dinosaur fossils, there have been shark fossils dated to be hundreds of millions of years old that look like.... sharks, people that look like people (and apes that look like apes), etc... Google sometime: "what did the _____ (fill in the blank) evolve from" and see how long it takes as you look at the various articles before the classic, nebulous words come up, "common ancestor" or "shared ancestor". How quickly the story becomes so vague, the lines are blurred, and the vibrant color of evolution fades to gray. There are too many gaps, no evidence to fill in and complete the story of slow, gradual mutations/natural selection from a common ancestor. Where is the ancestor of the ancestor, the ancestor of the ancestor of the ancestor? Anybody can make transitional connections in their mind between life forms - why would God have made life so differently for living on the same planet? Shouldn't we expect common functions for a common environment?
Respectfully in Christ,
"Reepicheep"
