These days, it’s frequent data that birds reside dinosaurs. Victorian naturalists proposed the notion after recognizing similarities between dinosaur fossils and up to date hen skeletons. However the idea was controversial till the Nineteen Nineties, when 1000’s of feathered dinosaur fossils have been found. Now, it’s broadly accepted that greater than 150 million years in the past, some vicious Velociraptor cousins shrank in measurement, sprouted easy hair-like strands, elaborated that plumage into wings of quill pens, and took to the skies. When the asteroid impression worn out the canonical dinosaurs, some early avians survived and carried on their lineages. Each hen alive right this moment is the direct descendant of extinct big reptiles.
But one facet of this story just isn’t usually appreciated. For nearly 100 million years birds lived alongside their dinosaur cousins. By the tip of the Cretaceous interval, 66 million years in the past, a exceptional array of birds thrived, gliding above Tyrannosaurus rex and foraging amongst Triceratops. Immediately, paleontologists are studying far more about these pioneering species and the way trendy birds arose. New fossil finds are illuminating an aviary of divers and soarers, seabirds and landbirds—portray an unprecedented image of what it might be prefer to go birding within the Age of Dinosaurs.
The First Hen: Archaeopteryx
With its sharp tooth, fierce claws, and lengthy, bony tail, the oldest and most primitive hen within the fossil document regarded like a miniature Velociraptor—till the corvid-size creature unfurled its broad wings. Archaeopteryx’s pitch-black feathers with pliable shafts fluttered within the breeze because it bounded between shrubs and bushes.
Habitat
Archaeopteryx lived in what’s now Europe on the finish of the Jurassic interval, when international temperatures have been hotter and sea ranges greater. The area had a subtropical local weather and was coated by lagoons and shallow seas, dotted with many islands. All 14 fossils of the species have been present in Germany.
Habits
Whereas Archaeopteryx spent a lot of its time on the bottom, it may fly. It had broad wings on its arms made up of asymmetrical feathers, which have been narrower and extra inflexible on their forefront. This aerodynamic construction represents a trademark of flapping flight (and a step up from the easy feathers some “raptor” dinosaurs sported for heat or show). Plus, the species had additional winglike buildings on its legs and tail to offer extra thrust, carry, and maneuverability. Whereas it lacked the big chest muscle groups that energy the wings of modern-day birds, it may make quick flights from island to island, the place it stalked bugs and different small prey.
Significance
The handful of Archaeopteryx fossils are among the many best paleontological treasures as a result of they seize the transition from non-avian dinosaurs to birds in motion, like a freeze body. If Archaeopteryx have been identified solely from its bones it might possible have been labeled as a Velociraptor-type dinosaur. However the discovery of Archaeopteryx’s fossilized feathery wings confirmed it was a correct hen, constructed for flight.
Fashionable Match
At about 20 inches lengthy, with black plumage and a flamboyant tail, Archaeopteryx brings to thoughts the brash Black-billed Magpie.
The Reverse Hen: Longipteryx
Sporting a protracted pincer-like beak studded with pointy tooth, Longipteryx had the mugshot of a mischievous trickster. However at solely six inches lengthy, this hen was no menace. Its broad wings and lengthy tail feathers enabled it to fly with higher grace and stamina than extra primitive birds like Archaeopteryx.
Habitat
Among the many first perching birds in Earth’s historical past, Longipteryx was at residence within the timber and mastered a brand new atmosphere that birds haven’t left since: the forests. Whereas earlier birds have been principally landbound, Longipteryx and its shut kin had toes that would grip branches tightly. The plush forests of Northeast China that these canopy-dwellers inhabited 120 million years in the past have been sweltering sizzling in the summertime however chilly within the winter, when flurries of snow would sprinkle this hen’s feathers with a cottony gloss.
Habits
You’ll be able to’t all the time choose a hen by its invoice. With lengthy jaws that would snap shut and gnarly tooth, one may assume Longipteryx dined on meat or fish. But the invention of a fossil with its final meal preserved inside its abdomen confirmed that these arboreal aerialists ate seeds and the fruit-like buildings of evergreen timber. As for the tooth, paleontologists posit that they could have allowed Longipteryx to make use of its beak as a weapon, much like modern-day hummingbirds.
Significance
The form of their shoulder bones was the reverse of up to date birds.
Longipteryx was a member of the enantiornithines, the dominant birds in the course of the Cretaceous interval. These have been the “reverse birds,” named for a skeletal quirk: The form of their shoulder bones was the reverse of up to date birds. All of those historic, plentiful birds died out after the asteroid hit Earth on the finish of the Cretaceous. Their slower progress charges as in comparison with different birds, and the destruction of their forest properties by fires after the asteroid, could have spelled their doom. However don’t write off these birds as a footnote of prehistory. Enantiornithines thrived throughout a lot of the world for not less than 70 million years and seized new niches that might later turn out to be essential for contemporary birds’ survival—just like the treetops conquered by Longipteryx.
Fashionable Match
The silhouette of Longipteryx, with its compact physique and elongated cranium, is paying homage to a Frequent Kingfisher.
The Squawking Seabird: Ichthyornis
Think about a gull with tooth, and that’s Ichthyornis. Noisy, aggressive, and feisty, these seabirds bickered over meals and mates and traveled in dense flocks over open water.
Habitat
In the course of the closing 20 million years of the Cretaceous, an unlimited inland sea coated a lot of North America. Ichthyornis swarmed the shorelines and soared over the water, leaving numerous fossils throughout a large swath of the continent, from Alberta south to Kansas and east to Alabama.
Habits
Ichthyornis was among the many strongest fliers of its time. Its wings have been bigger than these of its contemporaries, together with the “reverse hen” enantiornithines, and it had an enormous breastbone with a central keel to anchor huge wing-flapping muscle groups. It had tooth lining the central elements of its lengthy jaws, and capping its mouth was a brief, sharp keratin beak, which it used to seize fish whereas flying over the ocean and snag insect prey close to the coast. These social creatures weren’t shy about attempting to steal different Ichthyornis’s meals—or competing for his or her mates.
Significance
An ornithuromorph, Ichthyornis is a member of the road that features dwelling birds and their closest fossil family members. Its giant wings and flight muscle groups have been almost an identical to these of right this moment’s birds, and its mind was giant, like in trendy avians. But, its elongated, toothed jaw and partial beak have been holdovers from earlier hen ancestors. (No birds today have tooth.) Simply as Archaeopteryx was an middleman between meat-eating dinosaurs and birds, Ichthyornis represents an middleman between primitive birds and up to date ones.
Fashionable Match
If we noticed Ichthyornis, maybe eyeing our ice cream or French fries as we sunbathed on the seaside, we would mistake it for an American Herring Gull.
The Cretaceous Oddball: Mirarce
At two toes tall, Mirarce was an enormous hen for its time. A cumbersome creature with sturdy and meaty wings, it strutted throughout the bottom amid brutish dinosaurs—assured it may take to the skies if hazard arose.
Habitat
The one identified fossils have been found in Utah, the place Mirarce lived about 75 million years in the past in a sizzling and humid jungle dominated by many species of meat-eating, horned, and duck-billed dinosaurs. Again then, this a part of North America was on the fringes of the still-forming Rocky Mountains, crisscrossed by ferocious rivers draining the peaks.
Habits
Mirarce was a jack-of-all-trades.
Mirarce was a jack-of-all-trades. Its sturdy legs allowed it to navigate brush and dust because it hunted for small birds and reptiles to grab with its substantial claws. On the similar time, it was made for flight: Its wings have been giant sufficient to offer the carry and thrust essential to take to the skies with ease, and its shortened tail sported aerodynamic feathers for turning and braking. This hybrid life-style got here in helpful for escaping the jaws of the big tyrannosaurs it lived alongside.
Significance
Mirarce is an avisaurid, a subgroup of the extinct enantiornithines that was prevalent in North and South America in the course of the closing few million years of the Cretaceous. The hen’s giant measurement—larger than some members of the Velociraptor clan—proves that not all avians dwelling with the basic dinosaurs have been small creatures that sought cowl. Its uncommon construct additionally illustrates that lengthy earlier than trendy birds diversified into ostriches, peacocks, and hummingbirds, enantiornithines within the Cretaceous have been doing related issues, growing a variety of variations and filling quite a few ecological niches.
Fashionable Match
With its stocky stature and the best way it hopscotched between the bottom and the air, Mirarce may give the impression of a Wild Turkey.
The Authentic Waterfowl: Vegavis
This historic avian took to the water just like the shut duck relative that it’s. Vegavis was a fast-flying honker that spent a lot of its time wading and swimming, sometimes leaping skyward and pirouetting by way of the air in sleek shows.
Habitat
Paleontologists have discovered all Vegavis fossils in Antarctica whereas working in among the most inhospitable circumstances on Earth. On the finish of the Cretaceous, when Vegavis was paddling round, the area was forested, with a temperate local weather. Skinny layers of ice possible fashioned within the winter, spurring the birds to search out areas of open water the place they may dive, propelled by their toes, to snap up fish of their lengthy, pointed, toothless invoice. The birds lived alongside the shore, taking cowl in inland areas in the course of the coldest and darkest months.
Habits
Vegavis lived quick and loud. Its bones had no progress traces, indicating {that a} hatchling reached maturity inside one 12 months at most, like many trendy birds. It had an enormous mind and eager senses. It may additionally vocalize. One exceptional fossilized Vegavis skeleton had remnants of a syrinx, or voice field—a smooth tissue construction that isn’t sometimes preserved. Comparable in measurement and form to these of modern-day aquatic birds like geese, the organ revealed that Vegavis was most likely a quacker and a honker. It might have used these calls to warn of hazard, woo mates, or defend territory.
Significance
Vegavis is likely one of the oldest identified trendy birds and really a member of the identical subgroup that features right this moment’s geese, geese, and chickens. Though Vegavis itself didn’t endure the asteroid impression, some of its close relatives did. These survivors have been the ancestors of right this moment’s waterfowl. Why have been these birds in a position to persist when so many others died? They have been small (not less than in comparison with T. rex and Triceratops), grew shortly, and their robust flying and diving skills would have allowed them to flee instant hazard and take refuge as wildfires raged, forests burned, and earthquakes and volcanoes went into overdrive. Although Vegavis blinked out way back, it provides clues in regards to the components that allowed choose birds to emerge from the Cretaceous and evolve into the ten,000-plus species alive right this moment.
Fashionable Match
Frequent Merganser, or actually any duck. Vegavis regarded like a duck, grew like a duck, swam and dove like a duck, and quacked like a duck, in spite of everything.
This story initially ran within the Winter 2025 subject as “Birding within the Age of Dinosaurs.” To obtain our print journal, turn out to be a member by making a donation today.
