#heron skull

[curious-vulture]

Some things from my collection

[catwyk]

vacation sketches!! i HAVE been working on digital stuff, but its gonna be a while before any of it is posted bc its mostly Big Projects!!

the silt verses sketches were partly drawn on early morning walks to the beach (listening to tsv of course), and the others are observational sketches of taxidermy/model animals in a museum, drawn while listening to the podcast travelling light as a balm to the damaged psyche tsv left me with <3

[kacpergilkaart]

EXCLUSIVE USAGE RIGHTS FOR SALE CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS KACPERGILKA@GMAIL.COM

⚜️ For details, price of each design or any questions feel free to contact:

⚜️ KACPERGILKA@GMAIL.COM

[saturninemysticthreads]

How does this make you feel? Share with us!

[fishsfailureson]

"What is to come"

(image id is both in the alt text and below the read more- I put it under one because it's incredibly long)

And so there we have it, the 200+ followers artpiece that I have been working on for several days, if I had to guess I'd say it took 25 or so hours over eleven days. Honestly it's so surreal to me that I'm here with over 200 followers (260 as of typing this- yes, I procrastinated on this), especially when I only hit 100 followers in February. It's genuinely really nice to know that people are actually interested in my art (before anyone brings up spam bots- I know there are a few of them amongst my followers but I've checked most of them and I am 100% confident that over 200 of them are real). I don't really have much else to say really- I'm just grateful to have the support. Thanks y'all :).

[Image id: a large, lineless digital drawing of several dinosaurs. It is nighttime. At the bottom of the piece, a lone Eoraptor lunensis is walking across the floodplains- both the ground and the Eoraptor are just silhouettes, the early dinosaur has been given protofeathers. The full moon is shining, it's size is exaggerated for artistic affect. Behind the moon, the heads of sixteen different dinosaurs can be seen (listed left to right, bottom to top) Row 1- Thecodontosaurus antiquus (small sauropodomorph with light brown protofeathers, near-white undersides, straight stripes that are moderately darker than the base colour and vibrant green eyes), Coelophysis bauri (small early theropod with a long and narrow skull, its protofeathers are golden and black. A soft orange stripe runs across the back of its head, it has warm brown eyes. Row 2- Plateosaurus trossingensis (long-necked sauropodomorph, it has reddish-brown scales, light undersides, triangular stripes running down it's spine that get bigger the further down they get and pale yellow eyes), Heterodontosaurus tuckii (small ornithopod with a hooked grey beak. It has spiky green feathers, a lighter chest and a darker stripe running along its head and back, there are three small spots on its face, two behind the eye and one infront of it, it's eyes are bright yellow). Row 3- Megalosaurus bucklandii (medium-sized theropod with warm brown feathers, lighter undersides, dark spots and bright yellow eyes, there are several scars on its face), Brachiosaurus altithorax (greenish-grey true sauropod with lighter undersides, a dark pink patch on its throat, dark desaturated brown eyes and a few small scars on its neck), Archaeopteryx (early toothed bird with a black head, white neck and bright yellow eyes). Row 4- Hylaeosaurus armatus (pale brown ankylosaur with lighter undersides and vibrant green eyes), Velociraptor mongoliensis (dromaeosaur with light brown feathers, a lighter chest, a black stripe near its eye and light green eyes), Sinosauropteryx prima (small compsognathid theropod with ginger protofeathers, an off white mask and undersides and pale yellow eyes), Iguanodon bernissartensis (large greenish-grey ornithopod with a slightly darker back, pale undersides, a grey beak, and yellow eyes). Row 5- Matuku otagoense (heron with medium grey feathers and a small crest. A red stripe runs from just behind its nostrils to about a third of the way down its neck. Its undersides are white, its beak is grey and its eyes are brown), Triceratops prorsus (three-horned ceratopsian with grey-brown scales, lighter undersides, two triangular stripes between it's brow and nasal horns, reddish-orange diamond-like stripes on its frill, a hooked grey beak and golden eyes. Its brow horns curve forward at the base. Row 6- North Island brown kiwi (plump brown bird with a long pale beak, whiskers and black eyes, its nostrils are at the tip of its bill, and unlike the other dinosaurs in the sky part of its body below the neck is visible), male house sparrow (small redish-brown and grey bird with a black bib below it's bill), it has brown eyes and a dark grey bill. Row 7- rock dove (grey bird with iridescent green feathers scattered across its neck, a dark grey beak, and warm brown eyes). end id]

[wingedwoif94]

Highly speculative Spinosaurus paleoart! There's a lot going on here, I tried to take into account its ecological niche of being a river walking fish eater. Sort of stork or heron-like. I don't see much of a need to blend in being such a massive and niche animal. So I based the coloration on some semi aquatic birds. I increased the size of the head crest by a lot because I ADORE the idea of large theropods with bird-like crests and combs. Honestly I think it could have been even more extravagant for sexual selection, but who knows. I also covered parts of the "beak" with a hard covering that extends up the face and onto the crest. And added lips because I feel like that just makes sense with how the skull looks. But I'm not a paleontologist so!! Who knows!! Big duck!

[madcat-world]

From RustandSky

Evisceration

[alphynix]

Xenerodiops mycter was an unusual heron from the Oligocene (~30 million years ago) of what is now Egypt.

Known only from a partial skull and an arm bone, it's estimated to have stood around 70cm tall (~2'4") and was probably fairly similar in overall appearance to modern night herons. Its beak was powerfully built and had a distinctive downwards curve, shaped more like some types of stork than other herons – suggesting it may have had a convergently stork-like lifestyle, slowly walking through its marshy habitat probing around for prey and snapping up whatever its beak came into contact with.

———

NixIllustration.com | Tumblr | Patreon

References:

Dickson, Meig. "Xenerodiops mycter." A Dinosaur A Day, 7 Jul. 2019, https://a-dinosaur-a-day.com/post/186367090025/xenerodiops-mycter

Mlíkovský, Jiří. "Early Miocene birds of Djebel Zelten, Libya." Časopis Národního muzea, Řada přírodovědná 172.1-4 (2003): 114-120. https://publikace.nm.cz/en/periodicals/jotnmpnhs/172-1-4/early-miocene-birds-of-djebel-zelten-libya

Rasmussen, T.; Olson, S.L. & Simons, E.L. "Fossil birds from the Oligocene Jebel Qatrani formation Fayum Province, Egypt." Smithsonian Contributions for Paleobiology 62 (1987): i-iv, 1–20. http://dx.doi.org/10.5479/si.00810266.62.1

Wikipedia contributors. “Xenerodiops.” Wikipedia, 1 Jan. 2024, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenerodiops

[heatherwitch]

Raccoon tracks + duck feather

Wind designs + coyote tracks

Canada goose feathers + skull

Harvest mouse clippings + raccoon and heron

Porcupine tracks + eastern cottontail

[claypigeonpottery]

How do you price your work?

there are a few methods that I use

1. by size. larger pieces means more clay, longer decorating times, more underglaze and glaze, and taking up more space in the kiln. it adds up. plus, it’s easier to be consistent if I’m pricing by size. the heron and snake are a lot larger than the tailorbird, so there’s automatically a price difference.

2. by amount of detail. if it’s a complex design, it takes more time and effort to create. the unicorn and fox trivets are the same size as the skull and bird trivets, but they’re much more complicated. that effects the time spent carving and sketching

3. by amount of time. this is often hard to estimate, and I sometimes lose track of this one tbh. though these four trays are all the same size, the time it took to paint the cat and the unicorn trays was substantial. the gator has a lot of detail and complex carving, but time-wise, it went faster.

unfortunately this one is tricky when it comes to skill level. if I’ve made 50 mugs, it takes me longer to make a mug than a ceramicist who has made 500 mugs. and they’re likely also making a more balanced and beautiful mug, having had more practice. so time also has to consider the months and years you spent perfecting your craft

4. by comparison. what are other ceramic artists charging for a similar size/design? etsy is a good tool for this. if possible, look for other artists with a style similar to yours. you don’t want to be overpriced, but you also don’t want to undercut other artists or devalue your work

5. this is a more personal pricing rule: if it’s a copy, how much of a pain in the ass was it to make originally? lol

[yeahthatsonearthdipshit000]

things that I didn't expect in each Lockood & Co. episode

E.1: This Will Be Us:

The intro is fucking sick

THE DOOR ON THE LANDING IS IN THE INTROOOOO

The Locket was changed to a ring?!????

Everything else was insanely accurate

"Lockwood's a dick"

E.2: Let Go Of Me:

Ghost-lock is like...a really big issue??

"Yeah, she can be a bit...quirky,"

Lockwood didn't use his smiley giraffe toy mobile😭

Uh Lucy was literally possessed~

LOCKWOOD'S RED SOCKSSS

"He's a little shit, sir."

The boys freaking out at the end when they find out Lucy had the ring the whole time

E.3: Doubt Thou The Stars:

"You've got a real hard-on for him, haven't you?" "Well, if you want to put it like that."

Combe Carrey Hall is ELEGANT

THE GOGGLES ARE SO GOOFY LOOKING OML

They got "arrested"???

Penelope Fittes just trotting up to them at the Fitte's boy's funeral??

LUCY GETTING HER FOURTH GRADE

LUCY JUST FUCKING PASSING OUT AT THE END???

E.4: Sweet Dreams:

Lucy wasn't at the wraith cemetery at the beginning of the whispering skull😭

"And you just wanna watch him...die."

JOPLIN IS A WOMANNNNNN💅💅💪💅😭

Kensel Green was owned by the Bickerstaffs and their son - Edmund - was caught digging up corpses uhhhhh

Lucy's mental breakdown in kensel green

Bickerstaffs ghost being so fucking huge and like disintegrating lucy's rapier

The skull's voice being like warped and so fucking creepy oml

"and it proves that I am like-" "clinically insane?" "REALLY FUCKIN POWERFUL"

"I know I look like Anthony Lockwood, but I'm not. I'm actually a fully qualified doctor."

The episode went by insanely quick??? Like?

E.5: Death Is Coming:

The Tendy's badge??

Joplin is giving....pedophile

Also is her actor the same one who plays molly in sherlock????

MRS WINKMAN IS A FUCKIN BADASS

Nahhh cuz winkman's freaking voice-

LOCKWOOD WAS IN AN ELECTRIC CHAIR THE WHOLE TIME LMAO

ALSO WHY IS WINKMAN SO VIOLENT ISN'T HE SUPPOSED TO CARESS LOCKY'S HAND AND TELL HIM TO GO AWAY??

Leopold was abused😭😭😭😭😭

E.6: You Never Asked:

The ghosts of bickerstaff's patients like that was so creepy

The Golden Blade's manbun💅

Salt sprinklers instead of water sprinklers??? And they're gorgeous??!???

E.7: Mesmerised

LOCKWOOD HYPERVENTILATING AT THE AUCTION AND HIM AND LUCY HOLDING EACH OTHER AND THE "NOW PLEASE PLEASE GET BACK TO BEING A FLIPPANT DICKGEAD AND GET US OUT OF HERE"😭😭😭

Golden blade snapping Lockwood's rapier and then lucy hoping up behind him and absolutely annihilating his fucking back

Lockwood was wearing blue socks this time

"You me and herons, let's do it" AHSHSVSH I'VE ALWAYS SHIPPED GEORGE AND FLO ITS FINALLY HAPPENINGBKAJDBD

LOCKWOOD HELPING LUCY OF THE GROUND AND THEM LOOKING AT EACH OTHER LIKE THEY'RE GONNA KISS AND THEN LUCY SHOVING LOCKY AND StRuTtInG AWAY

E.8: Not The Eternal:

All of the circles George drew on the thinking cloth

Winkman taking his jacket off like a baddie💅💪

"And I'm Anthony bloody Lockwood"

Kipps having a panic attack and totally crying in the catacombs😭

Kat godwin being so fucking sexy with her rapier

"To save my friends." 🏃‍♂️"And Kipps."🏃‍♂️

Golden Blade shooting Lockwood and yeeting him down into the catacombs

Luce using the skull to look at the bone glass????

Lockwood in his normal clothes at the end and all of them bustling around like a little family😭😭😭😭😭😭

"Lockwood almost died a thousand times, but I think he's decided he's better off alive. Which is really good"

LUCY SHOVING A DONUT IN GEORGE'S MOUTH LMAOOO

AND LOCKY WASN'T WEARING SHOES

IN CONCLUSION I AM READY FOR THE HOLLOW BOY

[erikahenningsen]

#79 I don't care what anyone else thinks -- cadina bc I need fuel

79. “I don’t care what anyone else thinks.”

Being in a secret relationship is not as exciting as it seems in the movies.

Holding hands under the lunch table or trading kisses in empty stairwells seemed romantic at first, but it doesn't actually feel so good when the person you're with looks over their shoulder to make sure nobody saw every time they show you affection.

Cady would never push Regina to come out before she's ready, but she wishes she could share her happiness with other people. Because she is happy—being with Regina makes her happy.

And maybe part of her—the selfish, egotistical part of her—wants everyone at school to know that she, Cady Heron, is the person who gets to kiss Regina in the janitor's closet.

(Maybe she doesn't want to announce that last part specifically, but the point stands.)

Cady and Regina get to school early, like they always do, so they have some time to make out in Regina's car before the homeroom bell. As far as Cady is concerned, it's the best part of the day.

The novelty of kissing Regina George—being the one who gets to kiss her—has not worn off, and Cady isn't sure it ever will. She certainly understands why Aaron got back together with Regina so easily now.

She was also surprised by the way Regina kisses her. When Cady used to stare longingly at Regina and Aaron, Regina would kiss him in a way Cady can only describe as dominant—like how the male lions would rip into a kill while the females and the cubs waited their turn.

But Regina kisses Cady so gently, fingers tangled in the hair at where her skull meets her neck, letting Cady set the pace. It's soft. Sweet. Even tentative, at first, when it was still new. Their kisses never lose that quality, even when they're moving more urgently, hands roaming and bodies pressed together.

"Here," Regina says when they break apart, the bell due to ring in five minutes. She hands Cady her lip gloss.

"Thanks." Cady wipes whatever was left smeared around her mouth away and runs the applicator over her lips quickly. Regina watches her with a smirk on her face, making it hard to concentrate.

"You're so pretty," Regina tells her, casually but sincerely. It makes Cady's chest feel warm. She smiles at Cady—the affectionate one reserved only for her—and gets out of the car.

They cross the parking lot, hands brushing every few steps, until they reach the front door of the school. Regina pauses, looking at the door almost apprehensively. Before Cady can ask if she's okay, Regina reaches out and takes her hand.

Cady looks around them quickly. "Regina, what are you doing? People are going to see."

"I don't care," Regina says, and Cady would believe her if not for the tremor in her voice. "I don't care what anyone else thinks."

"But—"

Regina opens the door and steps inside, leaving Cady no choice but to follow or let go of Regina's hand—and Cady would never even consider doing that.

The whispers and double-takes are almost immediate, albeit more confused than anything.

As if not wanting to leave any room for interpretation, when they reach Cady's locker, Regina kisses her. Kisses Cady. In the middle of the hallway. It's quick, more a peck than anything else, but Cady stares at Regina dumbly as the people around them gasp.

To an untrained eye, Regina looks totally unfazed, but there is a pinch between her eyebrows, a nervous tension in her shoulders. But she looks happy, too.

Cady has never been more proud of her.

"I'll see you at lunch?" Regina asks, and Cady nods.

Regina turns to walk away and catches sight of a couple of freshman girls staring at them, open-mouthed.

Regina smirks at them. "Jealous?"

[etchif]

Been thinking about Spinosaurus a lot lately

Wanted to put all of this in the tags but apparently there's a tag limit so screw it it's going on the main post

Which is really all you need in terms of swimming prowess when the most you're using it for is getting from shore A to shore B. Herons don't need aquatic adaptations for this, they can just fly.

Moreover its snout is also pretty much exactly what you'd expect from a semi-aquatic ambush predator. The nostrils are moved quite far up on the skull, additionally it seemed to have posessed pressure sensors at the tip of the snout. It likely hunted by submerging its snout partially in water, so far as to not yet reach the nostrils, sensing nearby prey via its sensors and snapping

If this is true it explains how Spinosaurus and Stomatosuchus were able to coexist without constantly getting into eachother's way. One ambushed but likely did not or rarely pursued prey in shallow waters, the other actively pursued prey in deeper waters. Meanwhile Carcharodontosaurus was off on land filling the niche of terrestrial apex predator.

Obviously as we all know there are many many many things about spinosaurus that are still unclear and up for debate but overall, like I said at the start of my ramblings, I think its history is a great example of how science, when done correctly, is always conclusive. Problems arose, solutions were proposed, New discoveries were made, past problems were solved, new problems arose etc. But in the end old problems are always solved and everything fits together perfectly

[autisticlancemcclain]

The phone rings, and rings, and rings, and Keith swishes the wine in his glass and lets it. He doesn’t count the minutes but he feels the stretch. He waits and listens until the rings seem to thin out, until they sound muddled and far away, until they finally pause, until there is a click in place if the incessant bells, until there is a break in the pattern that narrows Keith’s attention back to the sound.

“…Hello?” A pause, a beat, a moment. “Hi? Hello?”

Keith doesn’t answer. He knows this sound, this sequence of sentences, more intimately than anything else in the world. He hears this in his sleep.

He takes another sip of his wine, swallowing slowly, and for the first time he feels it go all the way down, imagines the way it splashes into his stomach to join the rest of the bottle, swishing and gurgling like a water skin.

“Can you hear me? Hello?” There’s a peculiar quality to voicemail Lance’s voice; a strain, almost, the feeling of holding back. Keith counts the seconds, one finger at a time.

Exactly four and a half seconds later, right in cue, is breathless laughter; muffled, as if Lance has attempted to hold the phone away from him. It doesn’t work very well, and the sound of his wheezy giggling takes up all the air in Keith’s lungs.

“Gotcha!” voicemail Lance crows, gleeful and corny and clear. “This is my voicemail. I’m terrible at checking it, honestly, so just call later, okay?”

Keith had not dialled Lance’s number with a plan. There was no goal in mind. There was nothing in his mind, actually; his fingers had worked without his explicit permission and by the time he caught up with them he was too far gone to stop.

But now he downs the last of his wine in one go, hoping to wash down the massive lump in his throat, and tosses the phone carelessly somewhere beside him. He hears it bounce and breathes for a moment before speaking.

“You know what your goddamn problem is, McClain?” he says, and his voice is slurred slightly and drawling like it does when he’s drunk but he’s not drunk so he doesn’t care. He doesn’t wait for an answer before continuing, because there won’t be one. “You are too fucking endearing.”

Now he waits, although there’s no point in it. That or he runs out of steam.

His next words are softer, dulled.

“You are so convinced you’re annoying,” he sighs. Nothing he says is at all legible. “You delight in it, actually. Nothing makes you grin harder than when you’re sure you’re pissing somebody off.”

Without thinking Keith smiles, too, at the thought of it. He realises then that it’s hard, that his chin trembles too much to curve his lips right. He sucks his bottom lip into his mouth and he gags at the salty bitterness of it.

“But you’re just…you’re so goddamn bad at it.” It’s mean and he knows it is and he lets the sentiment draw out and linger. “You do stupid shit like pretend your voicemail isn’t a voicemail and no one is ever mad. Never. They can groan and roll their eyes all the goddamn want and it don’t mean a damn thing, McClain, you fucker, because you wrap your fingers ‘round peoples’ hearts and grip and squeeze and stay put like the fuckin’ parasite you are. No one hates your voicemail. Nobody.”

His voice cracks on the final syllable and he refuses to let himself cry but something escapes his throat anyway, a garbled mess if a sound, the sound a bullfrog makes as a heron shoves it down his throat. A bitter resignation kind of sound, a giving up kind of sound. Vaguely Keith registers the sound of a thump and a cracking pain in his skull. When he opens his eyes again he’s staring at the ceiling.

“Look at me,” he says, and his voice is hoarse and torn and rough as desert sand. “Look at what I fuckin’ do to myself. Can’t even blame you right, McClain, ‘cause it would be a goddamn lie.”

He registers at this point that there’s no way the voicemail is still recording. Good. He doesn’t care.

“You’re the only phone number I got memorized,” he confesses. “Sometimes I call when I know you won’t answer from a phone that ain’t mine. I got a burner phone, you know. ‘Sposed to be for when I run away but I only use it to call you and hear you pretend to answer.”

The massive lump is back in his throat and the wine makes his eyelids heavy. He doesn’t fight either.

“You have endeared me heart and soul, Lance, and I will never forgive you for it.”

His voice tapers off ‘til there’s no sound left to it.

“‘M sorry.”

The last thing he registers is a click, and the grating sound of a phone being left off the hook.

[dead-dogs-still-fetch]

Epic Bird Skulls

My research teacher who works in the Field Museum brought in some cool bird skulls for us to sketch in class. It seems like only me and two other people were really into them though. The skulls are owl, parrot, stork, and heron.

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Fossil Novembirb 15: Oasis in the Desert

Xenerodiops by @iguanodont

We FINALLY get to an ecosystem that isn't in Europe, North America, Antarctica, or Oceania - it's Jebel Qatrani Time!

(If you are as appalled as I am at the low sampling rates of fossil localities in Asia, South America, and Africa, welcome to the club, and support paleontologists who are from and work in countries from those continents!!!)

The Jebel Qatrani Formation is an ecosystem from Egypt at the end of the Eocene through the early Oligocene. It showcases the tropical forests, swamps, and marshes that existed at this time, emptying into the Tethys Sea. A wet and humid environment, it would have been a weird mixed ecosystem, with both the old and the new coexisting on the riverbanks. And, like in the forests and plains of Oligocene Europe, we see many modern bird groups show up for the first time here - and also very similar to their living relatives! This is a departure from the mammals in the region, which were unique and weird for the time period (though early members of modern groups are found here, too).

Palaeoephippiorhynchus by Bubblesorg

Being a wetland and humid environment, the main feature of the avifauna here are aquatic birds - many of which have close relatives today. Palaeoephippiorhynchus is the oldest known fossil stork, and was remarkably similar to the living Saddle-Billed Stork - even having the same upcurved bill. While it's uncertain if they're close relatives or not, it is possible that living Saddle-Bills are similar to this ancient form. There was also a mid-sized heron, a bird extremely similar to living Black-Crowned Night Herons, and Xenerodiops - a heron with a pointed and strong bill, curved downward - good for grabbing onto prey. It was a very sturdy, robust bird - even for a heron.

In addition, there was Goliathia - the fossil Shoebill! This bird had legs much like the living shoebill, and was similar enough in the limbs that it might be in the same genus! It probably lived very similarly to living shoebills, feeding on fish in the wetlands around it. What its beak would have looked like is uncertain - the closest living relative to the Shoebill is the Hammerkop, which has a very different skull. What their ancestral skull was, or what Goliathia's was, remains a mystery.

Goliathia by Antonio Rares Mihaila

But if you think I'm done with the water birds, you're very wrong - this is just the beginning! There was also an indeterminant cormorant, which had a very hooked and tapered beak; birds similar to living crowned cranes and others like living flufftails; early jacanas like Janipes which was bigger than all living jacanas but still had the large feet for floating on vegetation, showcasing the vegetation in these wetlands was sturdy enough to hold it up; other early jacanas smaller in size as well like Nupharanassa; and of course -

The Flamingos! Well, yes and no. There was an indeterminate crown-flamingo (ie in the group that all living flamingos are in), a bit bigger than a living lesser flamingo. But there was also Palaelodus - one of the "Grebe-Flamingos" or "Swimming-Flamingos", a long-lasting group of birds that first appear in the early Oligocene and lasted until possibly the Pleistocene! They looked superficially similar to living flamingos and were more closely related to them than to grebes, but they did have some similar characteristics to grebes as well - specifically having less of a kink in the neck, shorter lower legs, and flatter limb bones like those in grebes. They also had webbed feet, which would have allowed for diving or swimming. It also had a straight, conical bill, very unlike the bill of living flamingos.

Palaelodus by @alphynix

There were also perching birds, such as an early turaco very similar to the living genus Crinifer; and early eagles, ospreys, and other birds of prey that haven't really been named - mainly because they are very similar to living species, but so distant in time it seems unlikely they'd be in the same genus still... right? One, very similar to the living sea eagle, was found near the shore - indicating a similar ecology to its living relative. Another was almost identical to the living osprey, just smaller in size. And another was similar in size to living ospreys, but more robust than them. This place was filled with raptors!

Of course, I can't ignore the metaphorical elephant in the room. One of the most mysterious birds of the Jebel Qatrani is Eremopezus, a bird that has similarities to so many different groups of birds that its exact position is still a mystery. At this time it is thought to be a Palaeognath, possibly closely related to ostriches or maybe elephant birds - as the volant Lithornithids start to disappear, ratite-like Palaeognaths become more and more common. It was flightless, and probably lived similarly to modern ostriches and other ratites - as a a large herbivore, probably taking advantage of the wetland landscape and the abundance of food.

Eremopezus by @thewoodparable

Jebel Qatrani is such an important formation because it sheds light on the evolution of even more bird groups than those we see in former Laurasia (North America + Eurasia). And it is possible that many lineages we still have in Africa today have been around for thirty million years - and may have been very similar in ecology and appearance during that whole time. Given living birds react to changing climates by shifting with the ecosystems, it's possible that these lines of birds similarly followed the migration of wetlands and other habitats during the climate change to come, persisting to this day across the continent.

Sources:

Kampouridis, P., J. Hartung, F. J. Augustin. 2023. The Eocene-Oligocene Vertebrate Assemblages of the Fayum Depression, Egypt. The Phanerozoic Geology and Natural Resources of Egypt. Advances in Science, Technology, & Innovation. 373-405.

Mayr, 2022. Paleogene Fossil Birds, 2nd Edition. Springer Cham.

Mayr, 2017. Avian Evolution: The Fossil Record of Birds and its Paleobiological Significance (TOPA Topics in Paleobiology). Wiley Blackwell.

Rasmussen, D. T., S. L. Olson, E. L. Simons. 1987. Fossil birds from the Oligocene Jebel Qatrani formation Fayum Province, Egypt. Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology 62(62): 1-20.