Archaeopteryx Pair in the Jurassic Forest

Archaeopteryx was a transition species.  It was a link between reptiles and birds... or you could say a link between dinosaurs and birds.  Now birds are often referred to as Avian Dinosaurs.  Birds descended from Theropod Dinosaurs.  Arcaeopteryx had feathers that were adapted for flying and it had hollow bones like a bird.  It also still had the mouth and teeth of a small Theropod dinosaur.  You also will notice...if you look... that there are two claws on the wings.  The ancestors of Archaeopteryx had arms, not wings.  So the claws are a leftover trait from when this animal's ancestors had arms and not wings.  Archaeopteryx is generally considered to be the first bird, however, there are other "bird-dinos" that have been found in China.

New reseacrch (kind of new, 2013) using atomic spectormetry, has identified the colors for this animal.  Archaeopteryx looked quite a lot like a magpie.  The feathers were black and white.  I suggest you look up drawings of "Archaeopteryx" online to see how to use a black pen or black colored pencil to color the tips of the wing feathers.  You could also look at a photo of a magpie to give you some ideas.

Archaeopteryx Pair in Forest

If you look closely at the drawing you will see that the bird that is on the branch of the pine is and older bird.  Its feathers are more ragged.  If you look at say ravens, then you will see that older ravens look much more ragged.

We just got back from a trip to West-Central Wyoming.  While there we went to the Wyoming Dinosaur Center.  There they have one of the 12 specimens of fossilized Archaeopteryx.  All of these were found in a rock quarry in Germany.  The X-rays and radio spectromentry that was done on this Wyoming specimen and several others as well.  Another  study was done at Brown University using scanning electron microscopy.  It found melanonsomes and this showed the black feathers.  The Archaeopteryx is considered the first bird...even though it lacks a beak.  This specimen (now in Wyoming) is actually a better specimen for observing the traits.

Arachaeopteryx fossilized skeleton at Wyoming Dinosaur Center

The original Arachaeopteryx was also found in Germany, but we saw it at the British Museum in London. This "missing link" was a very big deal when it was found.  It was brought to England by Sir Richard Owen.  The discovery of this type of missing link was predicted by Charles Darwin. 

Archaeopteryx fossilized skeleton with feather impressions at the British Museum

Microraptor flying through the Forest
This was one of the bird-dinos found in China.