Nesting grounds of sky giants

67 million years ago: Morocco. 
The air is filled with strange noises. Beaks rattle, hissing and guttural honking... and of course the sound of thousand wing pairs flapping.
A mixed colony of Barbaridactylus (black) and Simurghia (L-crested, reddish, white, black) has build their nests in the steep hills and limestone cliffs, behind them rises the Atlas, much higher than today, towards the firmament. 
The breeding pairs especially the females have collected sand, stones, plant material and guano to build little nesting mounts for their two eggs. More inland a flock of smaller Alcione (short wings, black wing edges) has their resting spots. They fly over the colony on their way to the near by lagoon to fish. 
One animal returns successfully from a hunt, the stomach too full it carries the last fish in it's jaws, something that remains not unnoticed by an opportunistic predator. A large male Tethydraco (gray with yellowish crest) dives from higher altitudes and begins to attack the smaller relative to snatch the prey from it. 
Meanwhile the hectic peace of the colony below has been interrupted as well. A Phosphatodraco has entered the nesting site, it knows that not all nests are protected equally, and he quickly sticks its long beak into a mount to grab a snack. 


All animals described and depicted here come from the Phosphates in Morocco, from the very last million years of the Cretaceous. Barbaridactylus, Simurghia and Alcione represent new nyctosaur taxa, while Tethydraco represents the first late Maastrichtian pterandontid. Besides these the fauna has a lot to offer in terms of Azhdarchids. New Phosphatodraco material has been uncovered and two other azhdarchid forms have been found; a smaller one which was probably similar to Quetzalcoatlus, and a giant form with 9 m wingspan that is maybe synonymous with Armambourgiania.

For more about this remarkable find and it's implications visit out Earth Archives article: www.eartharchives.org/articles…


This painting was created within roughly two days and is a little bit rushed, I used acrylics, gouache and colored pencils on blue paper.


P.s. Who sees the little mosasaur?
P.p.s. This locality has still a lot to offer, besides the many pterosaur fossils the region was so far mostly known for it's many marine reptiles; mosasaurs, elasmosaurs and turtles can be found here, but also some dinosaurs like titanosaurs and abelisaurs.