Exceedingly well-preserved bird fossil specimens dating 50 million years represent a new species that is a previously unknown relative of the modern-day ostrich, according to a new paper co-authored by Sterling Nesbitt of Virginia Tech’s College of Science and part of the university’s Global Change Center.

The bird fossils were found more than a decade ago, completely intact with bones, feathers, and soft tissues, in a former lake bed in Wyoming. Nesbitt cannot hide a grin as he calls the fossil a once-in-a-lifetime discovery for paleontologists. “This is among one of the earliest well-represented bird species after the age of large dinosaurs,” said Nesbitt, an assistant professor in the Department of Geosciences.

“You can definitely appreciate how complete these fossils are,” added Nesbitt. His co-authored research paper on the remains was published in the Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. Some of the fossils are on display as part of the “Dinosaurs Among Us” exhibit at the New York-based history museum. Other specimens used in the study are kept by Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History and the Wyoming Geological Survey.

