The Sophiornithidae (literally "wisdom birds") are an extinct

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

of chicken-sized predatory

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

s that lived from the

Paleocene The Paleocene, ( ) or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 mya (unit), million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), E ...

to the

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene' ...

periods of the

Cenozoic The Cenozoic ( ; ) is Earth's current geological era, representing the last 66million years of Earth's history. It is characterised by the dominance of mammals, birds and flowering plants, a cooling and drying climate, and the current configura ...

, and were found primarily in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, and are thought to be primitive

owls Owls are birds from the Order (biology), order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly Solitary animal, solitary and Nocturnal animal, nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vi ...

. The French genera ''

Berruornis ''Berruornis orbisantiqui'' was an early fossil owl or owl-like bird recovered from late Paleocene deposits in the region of Reims in northeastern France. It was about the size of a Eurasian eagle-owl The Eurasian eagle-owl (''Bubo bubo'') i ...

'' (Late Paleocene to Late Eocene/Early Oligocene), as well as '' Palaeotyto'' and '' Palaeobyas'' from Quercy, are sometimes placed in this family. The latter might instead be

barn-owls Barn-owls (family Tytonidae) are one of the two families of owls, the other being the true owls or typical owls, Strigidae. They are medium to large owls with large heads and characteristic heart-shaped faces. They have long, strong legs with p ...

, while the first might be a very basal owl but not an actual sophiornithid. ''

Strigogyps ''Strigogyps'' is an extinct genus of Fossil birds, prehistoric bird from the Middle Eocene to Early Oligocene of France and Germany. It was probably around the size of a large chicken or a guan (bird), guan, weighing not quite . Apparently, as i ...

'' was placed here for a time, but it has been revised several times since thenPeters, Dieter Stefan (2007): The fossil family Ameghinornithidae (Mourer-Chauviré 1981): a short synopsis. ''Journal of Ornithology'' 148(1): 25-28. and appears to be an ameghinornitid; these were distant relatives of the

Seriema The seriemas are the sole living members of the small bird family Cariamidae, which is also the only surviving lineage of the order Cariamiformes. Once believed to be related to cranes, they have been placed near the falcons, parrots and passeri ...

References

Further reading