[Geology2] Evidence found of dinosaur that ate birds

Evidence found of dinosaur that ate birds PhysOrg.com [USA], November
22, 2011

When people think of dinosaurs, their thoughts generally turn to the
giant guys munching plants, or the ferocious beasts preying on smaller
animals. In recent years however, evidence has come to support the
notion that modern birds are actually dinosaurs that have survived to
live in the present. Now comes evidence that an ancient bird-like
dinosaur, a type of raptor, dined on other more modern-like birds.
Jingmai O'Connor, Zhonghe Zhou, and Xing Xu, of the Chinese Academy of
Sciences, write in their paper published in the Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences, that a dinosaur fossil they've found,
called a Microraptor gui, which lived in a period known as the Early
Cretaceous Jehol biota, in China, has a partial skeleton of a small bird
preserved in its abdomen.

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-11-evidence-dinosaur-ate-birds.html

Also:

Scientists use fossil feathers reveal lineage of extinct, flightless
ibis PhysOrg.com [USA], November 22, 2011

A remarkable first occurred recently at the Smithsonian's National
Museum of Natural History when ornithologists Carla Dove and Storrs
Olson used 700- to 1,100-year-old feathers from a long extinct species
of Hawaiian ibis to help determine the bird's place in the ibis family
tree. The feathers are the only known plumage of any of the
prehistorically extinct birds that once inhabited the Hawaiian Islands.
Discovered with a nearly complete skeleton, the feathers retained enough
microscopic structure to allow the scientists to confirm the
classification of the bird, known by its scientific name Apteribis sp,
as a close relative of the American white ibis (Eudocimus albus) and
scarlet ibis (Eudocimus buber). DNA analysis confirmed this
classification. Remarkably, the feathers also retained enough
pigmentation for Dove and Olson to determine that the bird was
brown-black to ivory-beige in color. This is a first -- the plumage
color of any prehistorically extinct Hawaiian bird up until now had been
speculation.

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-11-scientists-fossil-feathers-reveal-lineage.html

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