First evidence of ancient birds nesting above the Arctic circle

image via New Scientist

May 29, 2025, 7:00 PM

• •Newly discovered bone fragments from Alaska indicate that birds nested and bred in the Arctic at least 73 million years ago.
• •The fossils, including fragments from chicks and embryonic birds, push back the record of this behavior by 30 million years.
• •The findings suggest that birds were integral parts of high-latitude communities tens of millions of years ago, coexisting with dinosaurs.
• •The study identifies three main groups of birds among the fossils and raises questions about the evolutionary traits that allowed some birds to thrive in harsh Arctic conditions.

Fossil fragments found in Alaska reveal that birds nested and bred in the Arctic at least 73 million years ago, much earlier than previously thought. The discovery, based on the analysis of tiny bone fragments from young birds, extends the known record of this behavior by 30 million years. These ancient birds coexisted with dinosaurs in the Arctic ecosystem, and the study suggests that they were essential components of high-latitude communities. The findings also point to the possibility that specific evolutionary traits allowed these early birds to endure the harsh Arctic conditions.

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