Sacred Confucius's-Bird

(male left, female right)

  Confuciusornis sanctus

   Confuciusornis sanctus is a common bird often seen by the riversides of early Cretaceous Asia.  From their large, communal nests, these small birds fly in searches for nuts and seeds which they crack open with heavy, toothless beaks. Although their feet are small and unsuited for perching, C. santus are completely at home in trees, using their large, hooked, finger claws to climb across rough bark.  Like many other confuciusornithids, C. sanctus show a large degree of sexual dimorphism, the males sporting twin tail feathers. female

Thanks to T. Michael Keesey for his co-authorship of this painting.
Other sites containing pertinent information:

•  Jeff Poling's articles
• Dinosaurs and Evolution 3
• Earliest beaked bird discovered
• Sickle-clawed bird discovered
• Feathered non-avian theropods discussion
• Feathered non-avian theropods found
• Japanese museums' purchases create controversy
• More On The Dino-bird Link
• More on Confuciusornis
• New Protarchaeopteryx specimens found
• New feathered dinosaur found
• Number of Confuciusornis Finds
• Photographer Dr. Paul Davis
•  Sinosauropteryx feathers?
• Spectacular fossil site found in China
• T. Mike Keesey's Confuciusornis page
• Susan Morgan's Confuciusornis page
• Yale Peabody's Museum's Confuciusornis page
• Oslo Norway's  Palaeontological Museum's Confuciusornis page
• Dinofest's photo of "The Sisters" a pair of female Confuciusornis
• Model of Confucisornis
• The Department of Geology and Paleontology's Confuciusornis skeletons and painting
• The Rise of Birds, by Professor Sankar Chatterjee, published in 1997 by the Johns Hopkins University Press
• "Dinosaurs Take Wing" pg. 75 in the July 1998 (volume 195  No. 1) of the National Geographic
• Picture Book of Chinese Fossil Birds , by Hou Lianhai, published in 2000 by the Yunnan science and Technology Press.