A Bird Walk 65 Million Years Ago

BirdNote^®

A Bird Walk 65 Million Years Ago

Written by Bob Sundstrom

For today’s bird walk, we’re going to need ... our binoculars, some sunscreen, our hiking boots, annnnnd… this time machine. Let’s set our course for the late Cretaceous Era, 65 million years ago.

[time machine… boop boop beep boop]

OK, here we are! As you exit the time machine, please watch your head, mind the gap, and keep an eye out for wildlife! We’ve landed on the shore of the Western Interior Seaway, an ocean cutting what will become North America right in half.

Stay alert! There are dinosaurs all around us, of all sizes — and appetites — including some of the earliest birds.

Some look familiar: there are ancient relatives of loons and ducks and gulls. And swimming near the shore is a Hesperornis, a slim bird about three feet long with stubby wings. It’s flightless and has a long, slender mouth full of sharp teeth.

And what’s flying over the water, diving at fish? It’s an Ichthyornis, a fully feathered bird the size and shape of a tern or gull. You can even see some teeth in its long, pointed beak.

At the water’s edge is an enantiornithean. It’s the size of a sparrow and looks remarkably like a modern bird ­— except this bird also has teeth and small claws on its wings.

Well, time to jump back in the time machine. There’s a large asteroid on the way; that will be game over for the large dinosaurs and many of these cool, ancient birds.

For BirdNote, I’m Michael Stein.

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Some sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Recorded by GBHE 228119 B Mcguire, GBHE 49719 W Evans, Howler Monkey 189452 Matthew D. Medler, Raggiana Bird of Paradise Eleanor D. Brown 107180.
BirdNote’s theme music was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
Producer: John Kessler
Managing Producer: Jason Saul
Associate Producer: Ellen Blackstone
© 2019 Tune In to Nature.org          January 2019 / December 2022     Narrator: Michael Stein
 
ID#         birding-26-2019-01-15          birding-26      
                
References:
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/diapsids/birds/birdfr.html
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/diapsids/birds/hesper.html

pronunciations:

Hesperornis = Hess puhr OR nus
Ichthyornis = IK thee or nus
enantiornitheans = ee Nan tee ore NITH ee uhn