Eoconfuciusornis: The Most Well Preserved Fossil Bird

[Loon]

"In a new paper published in National Science Review, a team of scientists from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, the Shandong Tianyu Museum of Nature, and the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology (all in China) described the most exceptionally preserved fossil bird discovered to date." - Science Daily

Here's the article:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170324192645.htm

[Halichoeres]

Wow, incredible. Propatagium, ovaries--a few years ago I would have thought it unreasonable to expect such things to ever be preserved.

[PaleoMatt]

Wow, incredible. Propatagium, ovaries--a few years ago I would have thought it unreasonable to expect such things to ever be preserved.

I know right. It reminds me of the mosasaur colouration and other marine creatures. Remember me if Jurassic Park opens by 2100!

[ZoPteryx]

They even got the coloration too, that's amazing!

[Sinornis]

Yes, an incredible fossil find! In addition to the ovaries and propatagium, what surprised me most about the Eoconfuciusornis fossil was the length of the feathers on or near the base of the skull. Those feathers are double the width of the skull!! I was also surprised to see that the reconstruction artwork in the article failed to address those long feathers, and barely mentions them in the study. I attached two images from the study and one of a Nicobar pigeon for possible comparison.

http://avianmusing.blogspot.com/

[Dinoguy2]

Yes, an incredible fossil find! In addition to the ovaries and propatagium, what surprised me most about the Eoconfuciusornis fossil was the length of the feathers on or near the base of the skull. Those feathers are double the width of the skull!! I was also surprised to see that the reconstruction artwork in the article failed to address those long feathers, and barely mentions them in the study. I attached two images from the study and one of a Nicobar pigeon for possible comparison.

http://avianmusing.blogspot.com/

Interesting observation. Are those feathers on the Nicobar pigeon actually longer than usual, or just unusually narrow/display-adapted? I feel like most pigeons and other small birds have extremely long neck feathers than hide the contours of the long skeletal neck.

[Sinornis]

Yes, an incredible fossil find! In addition to the ovaries and propatagium, what surprised me most about the Eoconfuciusornis fossil was the length of the feathers on or near the base of the skull. Those feathers are double the width of the skull!! I was also surprised to see that the reconstruction artwork in the article failed to address those long feathers, and barely mentions them in the study. I attached two images from the study and one of a Nicobar pigeon for possible comparison.

http://avianmusing.blogspot.com/

Interesting observation. Are those feathers on the Nicobar pigeon actually longer than usual, or just unusually narrow/display-adapted? I feel like most pigeons and other small birds have extremely long neck feathers than hide the contours of the long skeletal neck.

Yes, they are longer than usual, and most likely for display.
Here is what I found on one website (not easy to find!) about the Nicobar Pigeon neck feathers; "Males are metallic-green/blue with coppery reflections.  The head and flight feather colors are slate blue to black.  They have a "mane" of long, hair-like feathers around the neck.  The long neck feathers, called hackles, are black and purple iridescence.  The very short tail is pure white.  Females have shorter neck hackles."
Like other pigeons, courtship display often entails cooing and bowing, which plays nicely into this type of feather usage. But for Eoconfuciusornis, doesn't makes sense since it was a female. From an appearance standpoint, the artist rendition of Eoconfuciusornis seems way off, but their feathers could have possibly hung down much like the pigeons.