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Pleistocene birds

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Fregata
Frigatebirds are a family of seabirds called Fregatidae which are found across all tropical and subtropical oceans. The five extant species are classified in a single genus, Fregata. All have predominantly black plumage, long, deeply forked tails and long hooked bills. Females have white underbellies and males have a distinctive red gular pouch which they inflate during the breeding season to attract females. Their wings are long and pointed and can span up to , the largest wing area to body mass ratio of any bird.
Great Horned Owl
species of bird
Snowy Egret
species of Bird
Podilymbus
Podilymbus is a genus of birds in the Grebe family, the genus name is derived from Latin Podilymbus, a contraction of podicipes ("feet at the buttocks", from podici-, "rump-" + pes, "foot")—the origin of the name of the grebe order—and Ancient Greek kolymbos, "diver".
Teratornithidae
Teratornithidae is an extinct family of very large birds of prey that lived in North and South America from the Late Oligocene to Late Pleistocene. They include some of the largest known flying birds. Its members are known as teratorns.
Genyornis
Genyornis is an extinct genus of large, flightless bird that lived in Australia during the Pleistocene Epoch until around 40-50,000 years ago. Over two metres in height, they were likely herbivorous. It is the last known member of the extinct flightless bird family Dromornithidae which had been part of the fauna of the Australian continent for over 30 million years. They are not closely related to ratites such as emus, and they are thought to be a gigantic type of fowl, likely an early diverging group within the Anseriformes, which contains ducks and geese. Genyornis. and many other Australian
Teratornis
Teratornis (Greek: "wonder" (teras / gen.sg. teratos), "bird" (ornis)) is an extinct genus of huge North American birds of prey—the best-known of the teratorns—of which, two species are known to have existed: Teratornis merriami and Teratornis woodburnensis. A large number of fossil and subfossil bones, representing more than 100 individuals, have been found in locations in California, Oregon, southern Nevada, Arizona, and Florida, though most are from the Californian La Brea Tar Pits. All remains except one Early Pleistocene partial skeleton from the Leisey Shell Pit near Charlotte Harbor, Fl
Asian Ostrich
species of bird (fossil)
Cygnus falconeri
species of swans (Cygnus)
Leptoptilos robustus
extinct species of stork
Casuarius lydekkeri
species of bird
Giant Malleefowl
species of bird (fossil)
Palaelodus
Palaelodus is an extinct genus of bird of the Palaelodidae family, distantly related to flamingos. They were slender birds with long, thin legs and a long neck resembling their modern relatives, but likely lived very different livestyles. They had straight, conical beaks not suited for filter feeding and legs showing some similarities to grebes. Their precise lifestyle is disputed, with researchers in the past suggesting they may have been divers, while more recent research suggests they may have used their stiff toes as paddles for swimming while feeding on insect larvae and snails. This beha
Pachystruthio
Pachystruthio is a genus of extinct bird which lived in Eurasia from the Late Pliocene to the Middle Pleistocene. Its fossils have been found in Hungary, Greece Crimea, Georgia, and China. The genus contains three species: P. pannonicus (the type species), P. dmanisensis, and P. transcaucasicus, which were all formerly placed with the ostrich genus, Struthio. An incomplete femur from the Nihewan Formation (China) has been assigned to Pachystruthio indet. P. dmanisensis has been estimated standing 3.5 meters (11.5 feet) tall and weighing up to 450 kg (990 lb), making it much larger th
Woodward's Eagle
species of bird (fossil)
Aegypius jinniushanensis
species of bird (fossil)
Passer predomesticus
prehistoric species of bird
Cryptogyps
Cryptogyps is an extinct genus of Old World vulture from the Pleistocene of Australia. It was relatively small for a vulture but still larger than the extant wedge-tailed eagle. Originally described as an eagle in 1905 (under the binomial name Taphaetus lacertosus), in 2022 it was reidentified as a vulture, the first known example from the continent. Phylogenetic analysis suggests it either being a sister species to the extant, widespread Eurasian vulture genus Gyps or as a more basal member of the subfamily. The identification of Cryptogyps as a vulture solves a longstanding mystery about the
Cuban Flightless Crane
species of bird (fossil)
Centropus colossus
species of bird
Dynatoaetus
Dynatoaetus is an extinct genus of large bird of prey from the Pleistocene of Australia. It is among the largest known raptors of the region, second only to the Haast's eagle of New Zealand, with estimates suggesting a weight of up to . Although most closely related to modern vultures, it shows clear adaptations towards an active predatory lifestyle in the form of robust, powerful talons. This may either hint at it retaining these ancestral features from the closely related serpent eagles or show that it convergently evolved these features as it took on a similar lifestyle. Due to their size a