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{{Useful Notes}}
These are the modern dinosaurs, and the most biomechanically efficient still-living vertebrates, able to fly at 120
When dinosaurs went up trees: [[wikipedia:Scansoriopterygidae|Scansoriopterygids]]
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Birds from ancient China: ''[[wikipedia:Confuciusornis|Confuciusornis]]'' and ''[[wikipedia:Jeholornis|Jeholornis]]''
* ''[[Confucius
The Mirror Universe birds: [[wikipedia:Enantiornithes|Enantiornithines]]
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Toothy seabird 1: ''[[wikipedia:Hesperornis|Hesperornis]]''
* ''Hesperornis'' and ''Ichthyornis'' are the two most famous Dinosaur Age-related birds (not counting ''Archaeopteryx''), both from Late Cretaceous North America. Since hespero is [[Rule of Cool|far cooler]], here we'll mention it first. ''Hesperornis'' lived in the same habitat in which Pteranodonts, Mosasaurs, Elasmosaurs and ''Archelon''s roamed: the shallow inland sea which used to cover US Midwest at that time, dividing North America in two parallel stripes of land running from Arctic down to the south. Despite its earliness, ''Hesperornis'' was already a ''very'' derived bird. 6
Toothy seabird 2: ''[[wikipedia:Ichthyornis|Ichthyornis]]''
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Running eagles: ''[[wikipedia:Phorusrhacos|Phorusrhacos]]'' and ''[[wikipedia:Titanis|Titanis]]''
* With Phorusrhacids (grassland-dwelling non-fliers), we have no doubts this time: thanks to their light weight and slender running legs, they ''were'' active hunter of small mammals. Not only that, with their strongly hooked, very eagle-like bill, they did not swallow their prey whole. It has recently been discovered they had even ''one clawed finger'' protruding from each of their tiny wings
The Magnificent Mihirungs: ''[[wikipedia:Dromornis|Dromornis]]'' and ''[[wikipedia:Genyornis|Genyornis]]''
* Dromornithids were among the largest birds that ever lived (they varied in size from about as big as a cassowary to the largest and [[Trope Namer]] of the group, ''Dromornis stirtoni'', 3 meters tall and half a ton in weight); and yet, they've not gained much consideration in popular media, unlike their American contemporary counterparts, the phorusrhacids. It's probably because they likely weren't, fast, vicious killers. Instead, the [[Punny Name|'thunderbirds']], with their vast bulk, thick, robust bones, hoof-like toes and strong, crushing beaks were browsing and grazing herbivores, slowly plodding across a wetter, more wooded ancient Australian outback. Typical of Australian things, they've been given many nicknames: "thunderbirds" [[Captain Obvious|obviously]] refers to their huge bulk and robust bones; "demon ducks of [[Doomy Dooms of Doom|doom]]" refers to their closest living relative being the Australian magpie goose, and other waterfowl, and an old debate as to whether they were carnivores. A recent addition to the list is "Mihirung", from an Aboriginal story that might mention them as the "mihirung paringmal" or Giant Emu: it is a certainty that the first people to arrive in Australia encountered them, and [[Humans Are
Deadly feast: ''[[wikipedia:Teratornis|Teratornis]]''
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A feathered airplane: ''[[wikipedia:Argentavis|Argentavis]]''
* The aforementioned ''Teratornis'' had an earlier relative, which lived in South America 8 million years before: ''Argentavis'' (its name means "argentinian bird"). Why should we mention it separately? Well... simply because, along with giant pterosaurs, it deserves the [[Giant Flyer]] title more than every other prehistoric creature. Its wingspan was 25
Toothy seabird 3: ''[[wikipedia:Osteodontornis|Osteodontornis]]''
* However, ''Argentavis'' wasn't the only [[Giant Flyer]] in the Cenozoic: we have to add the Pelagorns. These were rather albatross-like or pelican-like marine birds, but they had two cool traits: their wingspan reached 20
Everything's even better with giant penguins: ''[[wikipedia:Anthropornis|Anthropornis]]''
* When ''Hesperornis'' went eventually extinct at the end of the Mesozoic, a new kind of birds took soon its niche: but this time we're talking about much, ''much'' familiar-looking creatures: penguins. ''Giant'' penguins. The largest of them, ''Anthropornis'', was nearly as tall as a fully-grown human and weighed 200
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