Extinction Is for the Birds

Saturday-Sunday, April 19-20, 2025

Extinction Is for the Birds

Today’s special animal friends are some extinct prehistoric birds, because there’s a page of them in my “Birds of the World” word search book. Word searches are very good for your nerves. Wingegyps cartellei, Winge’s vulture, was first described in 2004. It was extant about 12,000 years ago. Similar in shape to modern vultures, Winge’s vulture had a length of about 20 inches, smaller than any vulture or condor alive today, and short wings. It is believed that they may have been a secondary scavenger, picking up bits of carcasses dismembered by larger birds or mammals. They may also have eaten fruit. Winge’s vulture is known from fossils found in the Mene de Inciarte Tar Pits in Venezuela and Brazil.

There are no videos of Winge’s vulture, but here’s something unexpected from the Haggis Wildlife Foundation:

Another old-timey bird is Ornimegalonyx, the Cuban giant owl. A member of the Strigidae family, like most modern owls, this big ol’ bird was hooting in the forests of Cuba as recently as 6,000 years ago. It was up to 3’7” in height and weighed maybe 20 lbs. It had long legs and fairly short wings. Paleontologists believe that it may have been flightless, or at best rarely flown, being much more suited for running.

It had impressive claws and a strong, sharp beak. It is believed that the Cuban giant owl preyed on hutias, a type of rodents known as “neotropical spiny rats.” This doesn’t sound cute, but they are.

At the time, some of the hutias from now-extinct species were as big as a capybara. Giant owls would jump out on them and shred with talons and beak. They also ate giant land sloths, although probably not the ones as big as a bear: more likely, juveniles or poorly-nourished adults.

Another extinct bird is (was) Xenicibis xympithecus, the Jamaican club-winged ibis. This flightless bird probably used the reinforced bones of its wings to clobber others of its species in mating and territorial disputes. Ornithologists observe that modern ibis in conflict sometimes lock beak-to-beak and flail with their wings, so perhaps these extinct ones did the same, only with more oomph.

Discovered in the 1970s, Xenicibis is believed to have been about the size of a modern chicken and weighed about 4 lbs.

Obviously, none of these bird species has been evaluated by IUCN. However, maybe someone will take a notion to de-extinct them, and then I will probably have to give up my Sitting with Chickens activity.

Happy Easter to those who celebrate, and a lovely weekend to all!