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Classification: Dinosauria, Theropoda, Neotheropoda, Averostra, Tetanurae, Orionides, Avetheropoda, Coelurosauria, Tyrannoraptora, Maniraptoriformes, Maniraptora, Pennaraptora, Paraves, Eumaniraptora, Averaptora, Avialae, Euavialae, Avebrevicauda, Pygostylia, Ornithothoraces, Euornithes, Ornithuromorpha, Ornithurae, Neornithes, Neognathae, Neoaves, Inopinaves, Telluraves, Coraciimorphae, Cavitaves, Eucavitaves, Picocoraciae, Picodynastornithes, Piciformes
Gracilitarsus is actually a fairly well known bird that comes from the Messel Pit of Germany, living about 48 million years ago, in the Ypresian age of the Eocene of the Paleogene. It is known from multiple skeletons and has ridiculously weird limb proportions compared to modern birds, and it was probably some sort of specialist when it came to flight like modern swallows, swifts, and hummingbirds. However, swallows have short legs, and Gracilitarsus had very long and skinny legs, and the three back toes are equal in length. It had a beak like a modern sunbird, so it probably ate insects or even nectar, and may have used its feet to cling to vertical surfaces and eat on unique sources of these types of food. It might be a stem-Piciform, meaning more closely related to modern woodpeckers and toucans than any other group, though of course this requires more research, as it’s a very unique little dinosaur.
