rchaeopteryx and Hesperornis should be on the lists of any dino bird watcher.
If you love learning about dinosaurs don’t let crowdpleasers like the T Rex distract you from the fascinating birdlife that once roamed the Earth.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like travel back in time to the age of dinosaurs? If you stumble upon a time machine, remember to bring your binoculars. Birdwatching is a popular hobby today, with an around 3 million participants in the UK alone, and in our modern world there are a staggering 11,000 species of birds to spot.
Despite the popularity of their modern-day descendants, we often forget about ancient birds because of their more famous dinosaur cousins.
Birds are actually a type of dinosaur. They are closely related to smaller, agile meat-eating dinosaurs such as the Velociraptor. Ancient birds came in a variety of forms, from ones with teeth and claws to species barely distinguishable from farmyard chickens.
So, if you were to point your binoculars over the heads of Triceratops and Tyrannosaurus rex, what could you spot? Here is a quick introduction to six of the most interesting ancient bird species.
Archaeopteryx
Archaeopteryx is the iconic “dino-bird” from the Jurassic period. The discovery of Archaeopteryx fossils in Germany over 150 years ago provided scientists with the first clues about the link between dinosaurs and modern birds.
At first glance, the skeleton of Archaeopteryx is just like any other meat-eating dinosaur – sharp teeth, clawed hands and a long bony tail. Surrounding the skeleton of specimens such as the Berlin Archaeopteryx (discovered between 1874 and 1876) however, are imprints of feathers which form a pair of distinctly bird-like wings. […]
Archaeopteryx looked half way between a dinosaur and a modern bird. Dotted Yeti/Shutterstock
Postgraduate Researcher in Palaeontology, University of Southampton
Continue reading: A brief guide to birdwatching in the age of dinosaurs
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