#eoglaucidium

[albertonykus]

Today, mousebirds are a group of six African species. During the Paleogene, however, they were far more diverse, and were prominent in European and North American ecosystems. 

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[albertonykus]

After forests recovered from their devastation by the Cretaceous mass extinction 66 million years ago, the few surviving dinosaurs quickly radiated into vacant arboreal niches. Among these new tree-dwelling birds, the most diverse were members of the clade Telluraves, a group that would give rise to hawks, owls, hornbills, kingfishers, woodpeckers, falcons, parrots, songbirds, and many more.

Here are a few 47-million-year-old telluravians whose fossils were found in the Messel Shale of Germany.