The Fur formation of Denmark preserves an interesting glimpse into the world of the Early Eocene Epoch, about 50 million years ago. Back then, Northern Europe was very warm thanks to global warming linked to the PETM, with subtropical redwood forest growing on the shore of a warm sea. And birds thrived on these tropical Nordic shores.

Eocypselus: An early relative of swifts and nighthawks with long legs and an insectivorous diet.

Pellornis: A tiny wading bird that was one of the earliest known gruiforms, making it an early relative of rails and cranes.

Morsoravis: A peculiar bird that may have been part of a radiation of stem-passerines and stem-parrots.

Septencoracias: An early relative of modern rollers, beautiful hawking birds that catch large insects and small vertebrates with their beak.

In the wake of 2021, added Yuanchuavis and modified Eoconfuciusornis for the paleocolor chart.

In honor of National Bird Day, here’s a Tag Yourself featuring some very good, but very dead, birbs

Tag Yourself I’m Dreamer

Updated my dinosaur paleocolor lineup with a few new entries from 2020: the lithornithid Calciavis (glossy black plumage) and the enantiornithean Protopteryx (black wingtips).

The latest in dinosaur paleocolor! 2019 gave us the colors of Eocoracias, and Pellornis gets retroactively added after a previously unnamed specimen was assigned to it.