A field guide to mesozoic birds and other winged dinosaurs

million years in the Cenozoic.
Not included here is the diverse bird fauna of the Hornerstown Formation
of New Jersey, which probably formed very shortly after the K-Pg
boundary (as evidenced by an abundance of re-buried mosasaur remains).
This ecosystem preserved an abundance of waterbirds including waders
and representatives of most bird groups mentioned above, further evidence
that the birds which survived the extinction were primarily waterbirds, and
which later evolved into “higher land birds” to fill the vacant niches left by
enantiornitheans and other theropods.
Above: Hypothetical restorations of select Mesozoic avians. Clockwise from top left: Austinornis
lentus, Cimolopteryx rara, Limenavis patagonica, Torotix clemensi. Not to scale.
161