Birds in the triassic era?

[spaceman]

Hi
any paleontologists around? Is there any evidence that birds evolved during the triassic era? I would like to make a case that birds ( or failing that flying animals ) evolved before the larger dinosaurs . Even better that they were around in the triassic period. Thanks in advance. spaceman
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[Azurerana]

have you tried googling triassic and birds? Almost 300,000 hits there.

[Jennifer]

Try googling Protoavis. Supposedly dates to the Triassic and could be the first bird species. Problem is there's lots of controvery about it, something about how the specimens were not totally articulated so there is some doubt about it.

www.bsu.edu/web/00cyfisher/Protoavis.htm

wiki.cotch.net/wiki.phtml?title=The_Protoavis_controversy