Oldest-Known Modern Bird Was Duck Relative

December 13, 2025

An avian skull from Antarctica is strengthening the case for Vegavis iaai as the world’s oldest-known modern bird, with the researchers placing it in the same evolutionary grouping as today’s ducks and geese.  

Vegavis lived in the Late Cretaceous during the Age of Dinosaurs, but scientists have long argued about where it fits on the tree of life — with the answer having implications for how far along modern birds had evolved while nonavian dinosaurs still walked the Earth.  

The skull, which is intact and nearly complete, provided new anatomical insights on Vegavis. Far from a distant cousin, the ancient bird was a close relative of ducks and geese, the results indicated. The research fortifies its categorization as an Anseriform, an evolutionary grouping that includes today’s waterfowl.   

This result suggests that it didn’t take the demise of the dinosaurs for birds to start diversifying into lineages that are still with us today.