Dino-Era Disaster: Multiple Drowned Toothy Birds

THE GIST

• Paleontologists have found the world's first known Mesozoic bird nest colony.
• The colony unfortunately died during a sudden flooding event in what is now Transylvania, Romania.
• The birds were toothy and clawed and lived with other unusual species, such as dwarf dinosaurs and huge pterosaurs.

Reconstruction of the Early Cretaceous (~110-115 million year old) amphibious bird Gansus yumenensis which may resemble the Transylvania Dinosaur-Era bird.

Bones, eggs and eggshells are all that's left of a Transylvania Dinosaur-Era bird colony that made the mistake of nesting next to a big river, which wound up drowning the avian clan.
The discovery, made in the Sebes area of Transylvania, Romania, represents the first known nest colony for any Upper Cretaceous bird, according to a presentation today at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology's 71st Annual Meeting in Las Vegas.