#Dinovember | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

oliviajdjarin · 11 months

Text

Din Djarin: Oxytocin

Pairing: Din Djarin x fem!reader (she/her; afab)

Request: via @feministfanboi “ Shut up shut up shut up this is SO HOT I need moreeeee I need the hunt riling him up so that she asks him to use her to let off team (steam) and then once they wind down a bit he takes his time making her come undone more the way he wants to treasure her (bonus points if the armor stays on the first round but he walks her through taking it off him afterwards). I'm so happy I found your writing and can't wait to read everything you've written for the hottest tin can.”

Excerpt: “The granite was cold against your legs, causing you to release a small gasp. Din sat you down quickly and held you by your waist, pressing his chest against your own. The metal was lukewarm through your shirt.

“Tell me you don’t want me to stop,” he whispered, using one hand to keep you steady and the other to pry open his weapons belt.

“I don’t want you to stop,” you replied, and his belt dropped to the floor. He began removing his pants next.“

Tell me you want this.”

“I want this.”

“Good,” he responded, a husk already in his voice. “Because I fucking need this.”

Warnings: smuuuuuut, dom din but actually dom reader, rough sex, unprotected sex, kind of a size kink, descriptions of scarring and concussions, swearing, very off canon, zero foreplay, probably unsanitary fingering, a soft ending.

Word Count: 4.2k

A/N: Thank you for your patience on this request @feministfanboi I hope you like it.

Pedro Masterlist

If you would like to leave a like, comment, ask, or reblog, it would be much appreciated <3

You had known the Mandalorian for a decade, but Din Djarin for only a month.

And it had been the best month of your life.

After years of fighting for jobs, clients, pucks, a seat at the table - any table - Carga had finally had what he called his “stroke of genius.”

“The two of you,” he said, the two of you seated uncomfortably close in a cantina booth. “Together.”

“Together?” you questioned.

“Together,” he repeated.

You and Din just sat and stared. Not saying a word.

“I’ll pay you triple,” he said finally.

Turns out, it was a stroke of fucking genius.

After ten years of constant competition between the two of you, you understood each other’s minds better than anyone else in the galaxy. Your weak spots. The way you fought. The way you planned. The way you hunted. The way you reacted when an enemy caught you by surprise, and the way you recovered. Because of this constant unconscious education between the two of you, you were perfectly complimentary. Working off each other without even needing to speak the words - catching on when one was winded and needed to be covered, understanding when one could forge ahead and the other could guard from behind, and most importantly, when the other was injured.

Injured enough that their body literally could not go on, in Din’s case.

You had slowly begun to learn all his small quirks as well - how he would kill for a homecooked meal after a long mission, how his lower back region always tended to bother him after a lot of running, and how, no matter what, the weapons closet always remained pristine.

Pristine.

You wished you could recreate the noise he let out when he found your weaponry beginning to spill over into his half of the cupboard.

After a month of slowly cooling your personal vendetta against the bounty hunter who always seemed to be one step ahead of you, it had become...comfortable. Weirdly, exquisitely comfortable. The type of comfortable that didn’t require a constant dialogue between the two of you. It was enough to just sit, watch the stars, ask each other a few questions you had always wanted to know, and then allow the silence to permeate once more. It was more than enough.

You wish Carga had this stroke of genius years ago. It felt good to be known, admired, then chipped at with questions in order to be known some more.

You had a feeling Din felt the same way.

With a new round of pucks in your pockets with targets in the general area of Coruscant, you were grateful to be known, even just a little bit. You needed it for that dung-hole of a planet.

The first puck was a knock-out - some big-wig’s daughter ran off with a guard of hers, proclaiming that their love was stronger than any alliance an arranged marriage would bring, demanding the daughter be set free from the “chains of bureaucracy,” etc.

Your eyes got a fierce rubbing after skimming that report.

Din asked to do this job alone - claiming it would be easy enough for one person, and that he was in desperate need of some fresh air. You appreciated his honesty, smiling at him politely while your brain deciphered the sentence using your growing encyclopedia of Din-Djarin-code.

I need some alone time.

You tended to agree. Some time alone would do you good, clear your head, revitalize you. Your temporary lodging was nice enough - a full kitchen, bath, and two bedrooms. You were almost looking forward to it.

You helped him clean his weaponry as well as you could, learned his plan for the capture inside and out, and sent him on his way with a blaster in one hand and a dozen credits in the other.

You placed an internal bet that it would take him no longer than a day at the most, a few hours at the least. You began to prepare a meal for him when he returned, full of peppers and seasoned, well-marinated chicken.

Maker, if past you could see you now.

The meal was coming along well - the smell of cayenne, garlic, and sweet peppers filling the hut, carrying you away to a time before you knew the taste and texture of blood - when an object hit the side of the shelter. You could tell it was a blaster by its unique clang. You had no time to even flinch before the circular front door opened up like a spider web set aflame.

Din stood straight and tall, looking straight at you, before stomping into the bathroom and closing the door.

“Mando?” you questioned, walking slowly to the door. You pressed your ear against the wood, listening for a response.

Nothing.

You realized that, despite all that you had learned of him in the past month, you hadn’t learned how he raged. You could feel it on your skin, a cool, chilling, silent seething that imbued even through a solid door. You couldn’t label what endorphins the feeling was sending through your brain, nor the stirring in your lower stomach.

Maybe you just didn’t want to.

“I’m going to open the door,” you stated, and waited for a rebuttal.

Nothing.

You sighed and pulled the door open slowly until it was only ajar, and found Mando seated against the bathtub, head in his hands. His shoulders were so tense and high they touched the area of his helmet that covered his ears. His breathing was heavy and quick, making it apparent that he was slowly simmering.

This position was eerily similar to the one he was in when he told you his name.

He had gotten hit in the head hard - very hard - and sat himself on the edge of a bathtub in the exact same way - head in his hands, shoulders tight, breathing rapid. He was so dizzy he couldn’t keep his head up, mumbling something about a rogue trandoshan that got him right under the chin. You prepared an ice pack for him, as well as pain meds and a warm water bottle, when he muttered something incomprehensible.

“What?” you asked, turning around to look at him.

He muttered the same thing again.

“Mando, I can’t understand you.”

“The trandoshan got away,” he said, and just as he began to slowly tip forward, he mumbled something else. “And my name is Din.”

Neither of you ever brought it up. You wondered if he even remembered it.

Maybe today would be that day.

“What happened?” you asked him quietly, and he responded quickly.

“I had her,” he said, “I fucking had her.”

You walked into the bathroom and kneeled in front of him, looking up into his visor. A silent invitation.

“He was with her. Her guard,” he continued. “And I saw the way he...the way he looked at her. He was ready to fight me. He was ready to kill himself if it meant she had even a few seconds head start. He didn’t even hesitate.”

A beat of silence passed between you.

“And I just...I couldn’t do it.”

Your eyes widened. “Are you saying you let them go?”

Another beat of silence passed before he nodded.

“Why?” you questioned.

“Because...” he started, and then looked up at you. You could feel his eyes burning into your own. “...because I couldn’t stop seeing you in her.”

He was still full of rage, sending chills down and across your spine, but a softness came over him in that moment. A softness that almost scared you, because you knew what he meant. You knew what he was trying to say.

I would do the same for you.

Suddenly, the feeling in your lower stomach made sense. The endorphins flooding your brain made sense. The want to give him comfort made sense. The depth of your need to see him for what he was and understand the exact plans of his jobs and the inability to relax when he was gone made so much fucking sense.

Despite the fear of how this mutual understanding would change your relationship, the anxiety of not knowing what to do next, and the shock of being wanted, you smiled. Despite it all, you smiled, and you stood.

His rage was still permeating, his body was still clenched, like he needed something to funnel his anger into. A vessel to work it onto, to bleed it out of himself.

You slid your thumb across his cheekbone, drunk on your ability to always know exactly what he needed, and whispered, “Din.”

A visible chill went down his own body when that word passed through your lips.

You leaned forward slightly, and said, “Use me.”

He looked at you then - really looked at you - before standing up completely. You didn’t know if you had ever stood this close to him, his broadness and masculinity washing over you as the size difference between the two of you was highlighted more than usual.

You liked it a lot more than you thought you would.

At the same time, however, a bead of anxiety dripped into your brain. Questions on whether or not you overstepped, or read him wrong, or crossed a line joined the wonderous high in your overwhelmed brain.

Instead, Din replied, “I knew you heard me,” before lifting you by your waist, carrying you across the lodge, and setting you on the kitchen counter.

The granite was cold against your legs, causing you to release a small gasp. Din sat you down quickly and held you by your waist, pressing his chest against your own. The metal was lukewarm through your shirt.

“Tell me you don’t want me to stop,” he whispered, using one hand to keep you steady and the other to pry open his weapons belt.

“I don’t want you to stop,” you replied, and his belt dropped to the floor. He began removing his pants next.

“Tell me you want this.”

“I want this.”

“Good,” he responded, a husk already in his voice. “Because I fucking need this.”

He pulled his pants down completely, one piece of cloth now separating you from him. Sweat dripped down your back and heat pooled in between your thighs at the thought. You itched to touch his skin already, thinking back to the uncountable amount of times you had dreamed of his body. What it looked like, smelled like, felt like.

Maker, if past you could see you now.

Din seemed to be in a haze, not even hesitating to remove his underwear and let himself free, and not even noticing how your eyes widened at the sight of him.

Maker.

He didn’t give you any time to process before tearing off your own shorts and underwear in one go, and immediately lining himself up. He held you close to him, his gloved hands working their way into your hair to keep you pressed against his chest. His hands on you were demanding, yet dancing across your body with a gentleness you had come to know only recently. It set your insides aflame. You reached your arms around his waist and tucked your face into his neck, desperation to be as close to him as physically possible crawling across your skin.

“Take a breath,” he whispered, before he entered you without a drop of mercy.

He slid home so quickly you couldn’t even release a noise before he started pumping in and out ruthlessly. Practically splitting you in half, impailing you with heat, rapture, and a wholeness that had every speck of oxygen leaving your lungs. You could feel yourself dripping onto the hardwood floor, spit beginning to paint his armor with sinful beads, and your head spinning so fiercely you could only describe your feelings to him with whines.

Din, on the other hand, had seemingly unlocked a flapping tongue.

“Maker,” he grunted, zero qualms against noise or depth. “Y/N, I’m inside you, fucking shit.”

His pace grew more relentless, the heat of pleasure beginning to drip down your legs and feet, toes curling at the sensation. He kept you pressed against his chest, sweat and metal filling your nose, giving you whiplash at how fast your life had flipped in the manner of minutes.

His fingers crept down to your clit, pressing and rubbing against it slowly, then pulling away, and repeating the process. You whined right where you imagined his ear might me, gripping his cape until your knuckles were milk white.

“Fucking wanted you in my ear like this since I first saw you,” he whispered to you, like he wanted no other soul to hear, only you. “Made me feel so fucking dirty, so fucking gross, but I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t stop. You were in that fuck grey jumpsuit you always wear…shit…and your boots. Couldn’t get you out of my head.”

You were near tears at this point, your body trembling and your mind warping at the thought of him wanting you like that - like this - for so long.

“Always a pain in my ass,” he groaned, his pace deepening as he found new crevices and waves inside you that had you scratching down his back. Your nails dug in so fiercely your ears rang with the sound, effectively leaving likely permanent markings on his back.

You dug your nails in harder.

You arched your back, beginning to meet his pace with the roles of your hips.

“Fuuuck,” he groaned. “You like me talking about you, don’t you? How your legs look in those damn tight cargo pants, how your hips fill them perfectly, how your shirts hug you so fucking right I can’t help but picture it the moment my eyes close.”

Tears are leaking from your eyes now, his fingers torturing your clit and his cock hitting a place inside you you didn’t even know existed until him. You wished to kiss him as you came, kiss all around his face and neck, breathe in his panting breaths, exchange tastes.

Instead, you pressed small kisses across the armor atop his collarbone, panting and whining louder and louder.

“You’re...you’re so tight around me. Look so beautiful with me in you.”

Your head fell back, any blood to your brain was miniscule, and the edge of the cliff was inches within reach.

“Din,” you groaned, almost pathetically. “Din please.”

“I’ve got you, come on mesh’la,” he whispered, “Let go for me. Come undone for me.”

And you did. With one last snap of your hips against his, you came. You could not make any noise, only capable of dropping your head forward onto his chest, squeezing his cape so tightly you could have sworn you heard a tear, and basking in the wave of warmth that flooded your body from your brain to your feet. Your mind was muddled - coated in pleasure, only pleasure, and only him. Your muscles ached with it, twitching and clenching in such ecstasy that you wondered if you would ever speak again.

It was proven that you could when Din pulled out of you faster than you could blink. The emptiness of it made you whimper like a child.

“Din, what -”

“I’m not done,” he said huskily, the cool rage and high intensity obviously not worked out of him. He pulled your limp body into his arms and tossed you onto the couch, pinning you on your stomach with his hips. Your body felt ruined, exhausted and devoid of all energy and vigor. Din didn’t seem to mind.

He held onto your hips, angling them so that his still pulsing member was lined up just right, before pulling you close enough to him to whisper into your ear.

“That woman who taunted me for a decade, outsmarted me constantly, stole my fucking jobs,” he whispered, breathing so heavily through his modulator you could barely understand him. “She’s mine now, isn’t she?”

Your aching, mindbogglingly sensitive cunt pulsed for him - was helpless for him. You whined, pressing yourself back against him for some sort of friction. Din stopped you, halting your hips with the strength of his fingers alone.

“Isn’t she?” he questioned once more.

You nodded profusely. “She is.”

“That’s what I thought,” he mumbled under his breath, and pierced you with his cock once again.

You could tell he was chasing his own high, practically clamoring for it as he railed himself into you like a man fucking for his own life, and with your heat already beginning to sore, you felt the rise of your own once again.

You wanted him to come - all over you, inside of you, every inch of skin you possessed. You wanted it now.

So, you resorted to the only way you could connect with him up to this point - your words.

“You didn’t have this armor yet,” you whispered, reaching back to push his helmet into your neck as you began to meet his thrusts with your hips. Shirt so full of sweat it was translucent. “You had this helmet though.”

His pants became whimpers.

“Fucking loved looking at your thighs, every time our paths crossed,” you continued, a wicked smile etching itself onto your face as you spoke. “And when you got this shiny shit - maker - fucking lost my quarry to you that day. I remember that. You wanna know why?”

You could hear his gulp.

“Because I wanted you like this - behind me, ruining me, making me sweat, panting in my ear, coming inside of me, all with that fucking armor on.”

He was slowing down, but getting deeper and harder. Like his cock was even begging you to go on.

“Din,” you whispered, meeting his thrusts head on, “come inside me.”

And he did. He filled every inch you wanted him too, and held you close as he did. Rubbing designs across the skin of your stomach underneath your shirt. Massaging your scalp. Whispering verses of mando’a you couldn’t recognize. All while fucking you through his orgasm.

You smiled, eyes closed, letting the stars behind your eyes overtake your vision, and the feeling of him inside you overtake your every sense.

He slowed down as the last of his cum painted itself across your cunt and thighs, but he remained inside you as he collected his breath, and you collected your own. He squeezed your hips.

“You okay?” he questioned, sex dripping across his tone.

You nodded, swallowing thickly. “More than okay.”

He coughed out a chuckle - one that was full of disbelief, joy, and maybe a little fear - before he slowly pulled out of you. You dug your nails into his helmet at the feeling, unconsciously chasing him with your hips, but he delicately set you down on the couch completely. You braced yourself on the arm rest, your body nearly giving out on you from the transition of full to empty, whole to half, complete to ripped apart.

You wiped the sweat that had culminated on your lip before turning to look behind you, expecting Din to still be sitting, flexing those delicious thighs, getting used to the feeling of emptiness himself.

Instead, you found him already standing, heading into the kitchen, and beginning to slide his underwear back on.

“What are you doing?” you asked, sex present in your voice as well.

Din didn’t respond, only looked up at you as he began to button up his pants.

“The sun’s setting,” you stated, “you never wear your armor when you sleep.”

“I do when...when it’s necessary,” he refuted.

“When it’s necessary?” you questioned, turning your aching body around to face him completely, wincing. “What are you talking about?”

He remained looking at you, his breath slowing slowly from the rapid pace it was before. “I didn’t...I didn’t know if you would be...comfortable...seeing me like that. After...all that.”

You looked him up and down, a small smile coming to your face.

“I just didn’t know,” he repeated, “I wanted to respect that.” Your smile grew big enough to reach your eyes.

“Come here,” you whispered, gesturing to the empty space on the couch next to you he occupied only seconds ago, and he obeyed. He sat down gently, inhaling deeply when you unbuttoned everything he had rebuttoned.

“You’re very sweet,” you said, smiling up at him, your lips tingling with the urge to kiss every inch of his visor, “but I always want to see you without all this.” You knocked twice on the beskar covering his chest, the echo it caused over the metal loud in your ears. “You act more like you.”

He said nothing, just kept breathing.

You removed his pants before bringing your hands back up to his metallic covered chest, gaze connecting with his, and asking, “May I?”

It felt stupid. Frivolous. Downright ridiculous that you were asking to take off his armor after he spent the better part of an hour cracking you open. Still, he had proven he respected you, he deserved the respect back.

After a beat, he nodded, and you began taking off each and every piece of his armor, and setting each piece down delicately on the floor. Halfway through, he began to chuckle, and you chuckled with him.

“What?” you asked, a wide smile returning to your face.

“Nothing,” he defended, “I just thought I’d have to teach you how to do this.”

You connected your gaze with his once again. “In case you haven’t noticed yet, I know you pretty well.”

He hummed, contentedly. Your gazes, however, did not disconnect.

You couldn’t help yourself in that moment. Maybe it was the oxytocin still flooding your brain, or the high that comes with physical exercise, or the pleasure of just sitting there, talking with him, but the question that had always been on the tip of your tongue finally wiggled free.

“What color are they?” you asked. “Your eyes?”

You wished you could see a centimeter of his face, a millimeter, even a shadow, because you could not read him. He was frozen, yet positioned confidently, more vulnerable than you had ever had him, yet the most expressive part of his body remained covered in the strongest metal in the galaxy.

He played it safe with his reply. “Guess.”

You smiled, relieved as the rope of tension slithered off of you, “purple.”

“Close.”

“Green?”

“Closer.”

“Blue?”

“Not quite.”

“Perfect,” you said before you could stop yourself, “I’ll bet their perfect, whatever color they are.”

You looked away, removing the rest of his armor until he was only down to just his helmet, when he finally said, “Brown. They’re brown.”

You looked into where you hoped his eyes were and said, “That suits you.”

He hummed again.

He was down to his undershirt and underwear, practically naked in your eyes. You knew he slept without a shirt on. You had no proof of it - no quick glance into his room in the dead of night, a comment he made that you stored away for use later, nothing. You just knew he did.

Your final thought before slipping your fingertips underneath the cloth material was I have everything to lose.

His skin was smoother than expected, sprinkled with a thick layer of hair just under his belly button, as well as a small scar deep enough for the skin to protrude just so. It was warm, homey, right.

You looked up at him as your fingers crawled higher and higher, slowly slipping the entirety of his shirt over his head. He never made a sound. Only raised his arms for you, silently egging you on. Like his body was saying you wouldn’t.

I would, your fingers replied as you slipped his shirt completely off.

He was tanner than you expected, sprayed with moles, tinted with scars, and muscles so defined and so him you swore he was airbrushed. Molded by a material of softness and perfection.

Your fingers looked perfect splayed across his chest.

You realized, as your fingers explored his chest hair, that his body was slowly sinking in on itself. He was closing himself off without words. Not in a way that showed he was not enjoying himself, but in a way that showed he had enough defenselessness for one night.

You tended to agree.

You smiled, and pulled him into your arms, laying yourself flat on your back, and allowing him to completely shield your body with his own. Lay his full weight on top of you.

“Y/N -”

“Sleep here,” you pleaded, “let’s sleep here.”

He allowed his body to slink and settle itself upon you, sliding his hands underneath your back, sweeping your legs from under you so he could wrap them up in his own.

“Don’t have to tell me twice,” he stated, and you laughed.

As the sun fully set, his skin became littered with stars instead of streaks of sun, and the weight of what had happened between the two of you finally settled upon both your body and your mind.

You had him in your arms. In your body. In your soul.

Finally.

With tears in your eyes, you asked yourself one final time.

Maker, if past you could see you now.

Tag list: (if you would like to be added please let me know!)

@leahkenobi @cityofidek @burned-dorito @tiredbuthappy @punkiwiki @lovesbiggerthanpride @darth-voder @samanthacookieone @torchbearerkyle @stardust-galaxies @c4psicles-blog @joelsflannel l @mysun-n-stars @tateelii @kirsteng42 @leithatnight @arson-tm @l0calgoth @thesmutslut @alastorhazbin @grincheveryday @martinsmomo @letaliabane @cathenan @big-ol-boat @niiight-dreamerr @jezebel1945 @call-me-doll-face @yelyahcardella @letskeepthislo-ki @misspearly1 1 @petals-opento-the-moon @just-a-sewer-goblin @em---r @kirsteng42 @leithatnight @arson-tm @l0calgoth @thesmutslut @alastorhazbin @grincheveryday @reader8679 @torchbearerkyle @stardust-galaxies @c4psicles-blog @joelsflannel @mysun-n-stars @tateelii @darthvadersource -voder @kirsteng42 @leithatnight @arson-tm @cockscombkingdom

@lexloon @pauphs @enjoyyourlatte

@miss-goldenweek @darling-murdock @1deadpool26 @queen-nothing @burnt-dorito @untitledarea @julialoopeezz @aninnai @daphne-turner @jediknightjana

1K notes · View notes

a-dinosaur-a-day · 6 months

Text

ITS ALMOST FOSSIL NOVEMBIRB!!!!!

We're going to have a CELEBRATION of FOSSIL NEORNITHINES for this November!!! The extinct members of the only group of dinosaurs we have today!

Each day will have a prompt inspired by the evolution of crown-birds and the amazing forms they have taken over the past 68 million years!

You can respond to each day's prompt however you wish - with drawing and painting, writing, sculpting, music, videos, whatever! Just tag it "#Fossil Novembirb" for me to find it, and it'll get reblogged!

I'm so excited to see the art you guys create!

NOVEMBER 1 - THE CHOSEN ONES

Crown-Birds (Neornithes) known from the Mesozoic Era!

Options include Asteriornis, Teviornis, Vegavis, and "Styginetta"!

These are the only dinosaurs that survived the asteroid!

Theoretically there were also early Palaeognaths and Neoavians - if you want to do some spec evo and hypothesize what you think they might have looked like, go ahead! Follow your dreams!

NOVEMBER 2 - THE SURVIVORS

The earliest birds known after the K-Pg boundary!

Options include Conflicto, Tsidiiyazhi, Australornis, Qinornis, and Qianshanornis!

Birds diverged rapidly after the extinction, so also feel free to dive into spec evo into some of the forms we don't have fossils of!

NOVEMBER 3 - RACE TO THE SEA

The first Marine Neornithines and how they evolved in the early Paleocene!

Includes tons of early penguins like Waimanu, Kumimanu, Sequiwaimanu, Muriwaimanu, and Kupoupou

Also includes the first Pseudo-toothed bird, Protodontopteryx, and the earliest known Tropicbird, Clymenoptilon!

RISE OF THE PENGUINS!

NOVEMBER 4 - THE MEGAFOWL

Gastornis (aka "Diatryma", aka "Zhongyuanus") appeared in the mid-Paleocene and was a feature of the Cenozoic landscape until the end of the Eocene - so we have a whole day JUST FOR IT

Show your love for the Megafowl Gastornis! This giant herbivorous bird was fascinating, and has captured imaginations for decades because of it!

Gastornis is also present in many of the ecosystems described below, such as Willwood, Green River, and Messel, so we also just wanted to make sure people didn't keep picking Gastornis over and over again xD

NOVEMBER 5 - IT'S GETTING HOT IN HERE

The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum was the most dramatic incident of rapid global warming in the world since the Permian... until today!

It majorly affected the evolution of many things, possibly including birds!

The Willwood Formation straddles the time period of the warming, and has tons of birds that were evolving during that time period! So, for this day, create things involving birds of the Willwood Formation!

Options include the flighted Palaeognaths Lithornis promiscuus and Lithornis plebius; the possible stem-Ostrich Paragrus, the early half-screamer-half-duck Anachronornis, the early owl Primoptynx, and the fascinating stem-mousebird Sandcoleus! And many more!

NOVEMBER 6 - TROPICAL DENMARK

Birds of the Fur Formation, one of the best collections of bird fossils from the early Eocene!

Includes such friends as Scandiavis (an early shorebird), Septencoracias (an early roller), Pellornis (an early rail-esque thing), the utterly mysterious Morsoravis, and the early swift-hummingbird Eocypselus!

This was a tropical shoreline environment with many of the first members of major bird groups we see today!

NOVEMBER 7 - ANCIENT LONDON TOWN

Across the shore from Fur was the London Clay Formation, a lush tropical forest near the warm shallow ocean

In addition to a truly alarming quantity of plant fossils, this is a notable locality for early birds, featuring many early members of major groups much like the Fur Formation

Options include Dasornis (a pseudotoothed bird), Pulchrapollia (one of the Parrot-Passerines of Prey), Nettapterornis (another stem-duck), Nasidytes (an early loon), Charadriisimilis (an early shorebird), Archaeodromus (a trogon-like member of Strisores), Eotrogon (an actual early Trogon), Lithornis vulturinus (another flighted Palaeognath), Prophaethon (another early Tropicbird), and Ypresiglaux (an early owl) - and so many more!

NOVEMBER 8 - THE RAPTORS ARE BACK

Turns out "Predatory Feathered Thing with Really Sharp Foot Claws" is a very successful niche - not only was there potentially one right after the end of the Cretaceous (Qianshanornis), but other raptors were some of the first birds to succeed around the world in the Eocene

So this day is dedicated to the early raptors of the Cenozoic!

Any "raptor" from the Paleogene is valid - so here are some suggestions: Early Cariamiformes (Seriemas and Kin) like Bathornis, Dynamopterus, Strigogyps, and the first potential Terror Birds like Paleopsilopterus Early Owls like Ypresiglaux and Palaeoglaux Early Accipitriformes like Horusornis Early Falcons like Antarctoboenus, Masillaraptor, and Danielsraptor And of course the ever popular "Parrot-Passerines of Prey" like Tynskya and Messelastur

NOVEMBER 9 - GETTING A GRIP

Half of all living birds are Passeriformes - aka "Perching Birds" - but this wasn't always the case! For most of Earth's history, many other kinds of tree birds were extremely common

Where did this behemoth group of tiny dinosaurs come from? That's the subject of this day's prompt!

In the Eocene, the first birds closer to Passeriformes than to Parrots evolved, and they came in a huge variety of forms! So on Nov 9th, we're going to celebrate this group's interesting beginnings!

Options for this include Parapsittacopes, Eofringillirostrum, Pumiliornis, Psittacopes, Zygodactylus, Primozygodactylus, Psittacomimus, Sororavis, Morsoravis, and Eozygodactylus! Go wild!

NOVEMBER 10 - BAYOU IN THE BADLANDS

Back to specific ecosystems! We're visiting the world-famous Fossil Lake of the Green River Formation!

This environment, during the Early Eocene, was a thriving tropical lake and forest ecosystem filled with tons of early Neornithines as well as mammals and other animals

Gorgeous fossils have come out of this lake, showing truly amazing detail of feathers and other features for these birds!

So here you can feature Prefica (a potential early Oilbird), the flighted Palaeognath Calciavis, the stem-turaco Foro, the early mousebird Celericolius, the possible shore-bird Nahmavis, a potential cuckoo roller Plesiocathartes, the Flamingo-Duck Presbyornis, the early landfowl Gallinuloides, the swift-hummingbird Eocypselus, and the Frigate Bird Trying at being a Gull Limnofregata - and so many more!

NOVEMBER 11 - A NEW DAWN

We're finally moving on to the middle Eocene - and the Messel Lake ecosystem, famous from the first episode of Walking with Beasts (hence the name of the day)!

(If you're going "wait, that episode acts like nothing happened between the K-Pg and Messel, but here you have 10 days worth of stuff" .... yeah. Walking With Beasts skipped the Paleocene and early Eocene and I am... very pissed. Still.)

You know about the tons of early mammals from this tropical lake ecosystem, but it was filled with tons of early birds as well!

There's the early ostrich Palaeotis, the crane-rail Messelornis, the almost-flamingo Juncitarsus, the freshwater Booby Masillastega, the early hoopoe Messelirrisor, Selmes (a mouse bird with stubby toes), the early ibis Rhynchaeites, the early nightbird Hassiavis, the early swift Scaniacypselus, an early roller with known colors Eocoracias, and the early potoo Paraprefica - and many others!

NOVEMBER 12 - PEAK PENGUIN PARTY

As the Eocene continued, penguins achieved true megafaunal status - there were tons of them, they were huge, and they were all over the oceans of the Southern Hemisphere

While penguin diversity never did recover after the Eocene-Oligocene extinction event, this golden age deserves celebration!

Some of these fascinating peak penguins include Palaeeudyptes, Anthropornis, Icadyptes, Inkayacu, Perudyptes, and Kairuku!

NOVEMBER 13 - FRENCH SAVANNAH

As the Eocene began to dry up and cool down, plains grew across the world where the tropical forests once had been

One of the most famous later-Eocene fossil sites for birds is the Quercy Phosphorites location, a French formation with tons of interesting fossil birds!

Here we start to see the early forms of Neornithine Dinosaurs we saw in the Paleocene-Early Eocene diverge and specialize further - often in particularly weird or interesting ways!

So here we have the duck-ish chicken Paraortyx, the secretarybird Pelargopappus, you can also bring back Dynamopterus from earlier, there is the stem-chicken Quercymegapodius as well as stem-parrots like Quercypsitta, the seriema-like Strigogyps, the sandgrouse relative Archaeoganga, Archaeotrogon shows up again, the swift relative Aegialornis, a potential woodpecker relative Sylphornis, and more owls like Palaeoglaux! Lots of cursorial predators in this ecosystem!

NOVEMBER 14 - LOST IN THE WOODS

As the Oligocene dawned, forests did grow back in Europe, though they were now temperate and dry as opposed to the paratropical rainforests of before

This lead to wide diversification of tree-dwelling birds, and so here we will celebrate the birds of the Oligocene of Europe!

We start to really see modern-esque birds at this point, though of course we still have 30 million years of evolution to go!

Here you can feature the early eagle/hawk Aviraptor, the European Hummingbird Eurotrochilus, the seabird relative Rupelornis, the early woodpecker-toucan Rupelramphastoides, the tody Palaeotodus, the proper Passerine Wieslochia, the possible shorebird Turnipax, the mousebird Oligocolius, the hoopoe Laurillardia, and the trogon Primotrogon which we know the colors of!

NOVEMBER 15 - OASIS IN THE DESERT

The Jebel Qatrani Formation of Egypt shows the beginnings of the famous African Grassland animals, as well as many early members of iconic African animal groups such as primates - and, of course, birds!

Taking place in the early Oligocene, this formation was a tropical/subtropical lowland plain filled with ponds and streams and other waterways - aka, tons of swamps surrounded by plains

As such, this place is infested with waterbirds!

Here we have a fossil relative of the Shoebill Goliathia, as well as the jacanas Janipes and Nupharanassa, the giant stork Palaeoephippiorhynchus, the herons Nycticorax and Xenerodiops, and the mystery Palaeognath Eremopezus!

NOVEMBER 16 - AMONG THE GIANTS

Once again we're just fully committing to the Walking With Beasts nostalgia bc these are the birds we wish were in it more okay we said it

Anyways there were some interesting large birds in the plains of the "Land of Giants" episode so picture these guys alongside the Indricothere etc.

In general we're covering the latest Eocene through the Oligocene of Central Asia

Here we have the enigmatic ratites Ergilornis and Sonogrus, the pseudo-toothed bird Caspiodontornis, the owl Heterostrix, and the stem-flamingo Agnopterus

NOVEMBER 17 - IF THE WIND WAS IN OUR WINGS

We all focus on penguins, but over the Cenozoic, plenty of weird birds have evolved for marine life, and boy are they bizarre!

So for Nov 17, we're focusing on the unusual marine birds of the Cenozoic!

This includes any members of the Pelagornithids - aka the Pseudo-toothed birds - as well as the Plotopterids - the Boobies that became Penguins! Pelagornis and Copepteryx are the best known taxa from each, respectively, but there are plenty more!

But that's not all! We have the flightless auks Miomancalla and Mancalla, the large flightless marine duck Chendytes, and who can forget the weird flightless marine swan Annakacygna! Tons of options to choose from!

NOVEMBER 18 - MARCHING IN THE MARSHES

We're now starting our transition from the Paleogene into the Neogene, beginning with the brackish marsh ecosystem preserved at Saint-Gerand-Le-Puy in France!

This Miocene locality preserves a wide variety of birds that are near modern, but not quite - a sort of "uncanny valley" of bird evolution, all set in a somewhat-salty somewhat-not wetland ecosystem

Options for dinosaurs here include Harrisonavis, a transitional flamingo; the early gull/tern Laricola, the enigmatic duck Mionetta, the stork Grallavis, the pratincole Becassius, the swimming-flamingo Palaelodus, the early cormorant Nectornis, the seed-eating pheasant Palaeortyx, the early loon Colymboides, and the mysterious shorebird Elorius!

NOVEMBER 19 - FERN GULLY

Riversleigh is one of the most famous fossil sites in the world, preserving the evolution of the strange and unique animals known today in Australia, during the Oligocene to Miocene transition

Most often, we focus on the bizarre mammals found at Riversleigh, and for good reason - it's a Marsupial Party! - but the birds here are fantastic as well

This ecosystem was a rich rainforest that transitioned over the period of deposition into a semiarid grassland, and covers 20 million years of animal evolution during that transition

Options for birds here include the butcherbird Kurrartapu, the fossil Sittella Daphoenositta trevorworthyi, the Mihirungs ("Demon Ducks") Dromornis and Barawertornis, the Emuwary Emuarius, the early magpie-goose Eoanseranas, the raptor Pengana with flexible ankles, the earliest known species of lyrebird (Menura tyawanoides), the corvid-like Corvitalusoides, the first known cockatoos, the flightless rail-like bird Australlus, the stiff-tailed duck Pinpanetta, the early logrunner Orthonyx kaldowinyeri, and so many more!

NOVEMBER 20 - LAND OF GIANTS

Y'all were probably wondering when we'd get to the Terror Birds and other interesting dinosaurs of South America, so - here we are!

South America, isolated from the rest of the world until the Great American Interchange, featured a wide variety of bizarre and unique animals - not just mammals, but birds and other reptiles as well!

So for Nov 20th, we're looking at the interesting dinosaurs of the "lost continent" during the Miocene epoch, prior to the invasion of North American taxa!

Any Miocene South American Terror Bird (Phorusrachid) is fair game here, so that includes Brontornis, Patagorhacos, Paraphysornis, Devincenzia, Kelenken, Phorusrhacos, Patagornis, Andalgalornis, Psilopterus, Mesembriornis, and Procariama! Note that they did not all live at the same time or even close to each other in location, so do your research on the taxa you pick!

But Terror Birds weren't the only strange dinosaurs in South America at the time! We have the large Teratorn (vulture-like-thing) Argentavis, the *giant* swimming-flamingo Megapaloelodus, the giant Anhinga Macranhinga, the rhea Opisthodactylus, the penguins Palaeospheniscus, Arthrodytes, and Paraptenodytes, the Cathartid Dryornis, the Jacamar Galbula hylochoreutes, fossil Hoatzins like Hoazinavis and Hoazinoides, the giant stork Leptoptilos patagonicus, and the owl Yarquen!

NOVEMBER 21 - FIRST OF THE MANU

Aotearoa has one of the most unique avifaunas in the world today, and I often call it "Mesozoic 2" because of its almost entirely dinosaur-dominated fauna, especially in the past

All great things have to start somewhere or when, and for Aotearoa, that somewhen was after the landmass resurfaced from the ocean for the first time in millions of years - and was quickly inhabited by all kinds of birds and other reptiles (including tuatara) in the Miocene

This ecosystem was a lake bordered by grassy wetland floodplains and subtropical forests, a bit warmer than Aotearoa today

Dinosaurs here include the early Kiwi Proapteryx, an unnamed early Moa, a truly alarming number of waterfowl including shelducks like Miotadorna, stiff-tailed ducks like Manuherikia, and the possible swan Notochen, the small swimming-flamingo Palaelodus aotearoa, pigeons like Rupephaps and Deliaphaps, an early adzebill Aptornis proasciarostratus, flightless rails like Priscaweka, the lake-wanderer Hakawai melvillei, the herons Pikaihao and Matuku, the giant parrot Heracles, proto-keas Nelepsittacus, and the New Zealand Wren Kuiornis. Tons of fun species to choose from!

NOVEMBER 22 - LAND OF CONFUSION

In the Late Miocene to Early Pliocene, the Italian province of Gargano was cut off from the mainland due to rising sea levels, turning it into an island - an island with lots of really strange birds!

This island was cut off from everything else and completely lacked large predators, allowing for a weird variety of animals to evolve and thrive prior to the island rejoining the mainland during the Ice Age

Strange birds of this ecosystem include the extremely old pigeon Columba omnisanctorum, the giant hawk Garganoaetus, the giant flightless goose Garganornis, the giant barn owl Tyto gigantea, the pheasant Palaeortyx volans, and the swift Apus wetmorei!

NOVEMBER 23 - MAKE A BIRD OUT OF YOU

The iconic animals of the Ice Age and recent prehistory had to come from somewhere, and much of this transition is recorded in the Chinese Ecosystem of the Liushu Formation, deposited between 11 and 6.4 million years ago

As grasslands expanded, this ecosystem transitioned from a forest to a wide plains, and many animals adapted for the grasslands accordingly, leading to the appearance of such mammals as Elasmotheriines, Sabercats, Hyenas, Ambelodonts, and a truly alarming quantity of hoofed mammals

Dinosaurs (Birds) adapted to this ecosystem change as well, of course! While most focus on the mammals of Liushu, we're here to showcase the interesting birds that appeared here as well!

Options here include the the very well preserved Falcon Falco hezhengensis, the vultures Mioneophron and Gansugyps, the diurnal owl Miosurnia, the vocally fancy pheasant Panraogallus, the sandgrouse Linxiavis, the Ostrich Struthio (or Orientornis) linxiaensis, and the probable-Ostrich Sinoergilornis

NOVEMBER 24 - ANCIENT SOUTH PACIFIC

Penguins are Bouncing Back! As the Miocene continued and the Pliocene began, many new types of marine birds showed up and were fossilized in locations in Chile (Pisco) and Aotearoa (Tangahoe)

Tons of interesting birds were preserved in this sort of transitional ecosystem, showcasing how birds adapted to changing conditions as the Miocene-Pliocene climatic turmoil continued

These near shore environments are probably more famous for their other animals - things like the giant shark "megalodon", as well as weird whales like Livyatan and Odobenocetops and aquatic giant sloths (like Thalassocnus) and marine crocodilians - but we're here for those dinosaurs!

Options here from the Pisco Formation include the "Toucan-Booby" Ramphastosula, the Cathartid Perugyps, the Booby Sula figueroae, Pelagornithids, Pelicans, and the penguins Spheniscus urbinai and Spheniscus megaramphus, whereas birds from the Tangahoe Formation include the narrow-beaked albatross Aldiomedes, the giant petrel Macronectes, the more regular-sized petrel Procellaria altirostris, the little penguin Eudyptula wilsonae, and the crested penguin Eudyptes atatu!

NOVEMBER 25 - LAST OF A DYING BREED

We all love Megafuana, even though they are usually the "Live Fast Die Young" kind of species - gobbling up resources and growing too big will do that to you

Usually when we hear the term "Megafauna" we think of Mammals and Non-Avian Dinosaurs, but birds have had their share too - and have lost their share as well

So, mainly to cater to the Megafauna Fanbase, here we dedicate a whole day to the giant birds of recent times - Pliocene through Pleistocene - that we have lost to the dramatic climate change of the Ice Age Era. (Those lost in the Holocene will get their own days, see below)

Options for this day include the giant ostrich Pachystruthio, the Mihirung Genyornis, the Terror Bird Titanis, the giant stork Leptoptilos robustus, the giant swan Cygnus falconeri, the giant Anhinga Giganhinga, and of course - we can't forget our friend - the last of the Pseudotoothed Birds, Pelagornis

NOVEMBER 26 - HIGH AS A KITE

In many ways, the real dinosaur winners of the Ice Age were the flying Birds of Prey, as there were many kinds of raptors during the Ice Age and they exploited the new environment expertly

Nothing like being able to traverse huge distances to find places where there are food, amiright?

So this day is dedicated to the fantastic Raptors of the Ice Age, both volant and not!

Here we have some of the last of the Teratorns like Teratornis itself, the Giant Australian Raptor Dynatoaetus, the Australian Vulture Cryptogyps, Woodward's Eagle Buteogallus woodwardi, the tiny Condor Wingegyps, the large Cuban Eagle Gigantohierax, the wandering vulture Neogyps, the Walking Eagle Buteogallus daggetti, the Giant Cuban Stilt-Owl Ornimegalonyx, and one of the last Terror Birds, Psilopterus

NOVEMBER 27 - BEGINNING OF THE END

Oh Holocene Extinctions. As upsetting as they are, they include some of the best known fossil/subfossil birds, so we decided to spend a little extra time on them than they should have based solely on the time length

Here, we highlight the early losses of the Holocene - those dinosaurs that went extinct at the start, largely due to direct human activity such as hunting in addition to the warming caused by the end of the last Ice Age/Glacial Maximum

Days will be dedicated to both Hawai'i (see below) and Aotearoa (again, below), so this is for everyone else!

So options here include the previously mentioned marine duck Chendytes, the giant flightless landfowl Sylviornis from New Caledonia, the famous Elephant Birds of Madagascar, the flightless clubbing-ibis Xenicibis, the weird puffin Fratercula dowi, the giant Bahama Eagle Titanohierax, the Californian Turkey Meleagris californica, and the flightless "Cave Rail" Nesotrochis of the Greater Antilles

NOVEMBER 28 - OLD HAWAI'I

Many, many, MANY unique dinosaurs live on islands. The islands of Hawai'i are no exception, and these islands have lost many unique and fascinating birds over the years - thanks to human activity, invasive cats, colonialism, and climate change

We couldn't possibly ignore them, so for this day, we are hilghlighting these amazing animals found across the archipelago

There are tons of options, but some of our recommendations include the reverse-platypus/Mole Duck Talpanas, the Stilt-Owl Grallistrix, the flightless ibis Apteribis, the Moa-Nalo like Chelychelynechen, Ptaiochen, and Thambetochen, the Wood Harrier Circus dossenus, Hawai'ian Honeycreepers like Drepanis, Aidemedia, Hemignathus, Chloridops, Akialoa, Rhodacanthis, Dysmorodrepanis, Telespiza, and Vangulifer, the Oloma'o and ʻĀmaui thrushes, ʻōʻō's/Hawai'ian Honeyeaters like the Kioea, Kauaʻi ʻōʻō, and Oʻahu ʻōʻō, the giant Hawai'i Goose, the nēnē-nui/wood-walking goose, the Robust Crow, the flightless Laysan Rail, and the O'ahu Petrel

NOVEMBER 29 - OLD AOTEAROA

We're finally here: Pre-Human Holocene Aotearoa, aka Mesozoic 2, aka The Land Where Mammals Ain't Shit

I love Aotearoa so much. Why wasn't I born there. The universe isn't fair.

The ecosystems were very similar to today - podocarp forests and southern beech forests, grass and tussock plains and shrublands, and plenty of coastal habitats, all usually temperate in terms of climate

All named Moa are fair game. All of them, all named members of Dinornithiformes. So the North Island Giant Moa, the South Island Giant Moa, the Bush Moa, the Eastern Moa, the Broad-Billed Moa, the Heavy-Footed Moa, Mantell's Moa, the Crested Moa, and the Upload Moa. Follow your Moa-Filled Dreams!

Obviously there were more than Moa - not just the living species of Aotearoa still with us, but tons of other extinct forms for Fossil Novembirb. This includes the Adzebills, Haast's Eagle (of course), the whēkau/Laughing Owl Ninox albifacies, the New Zealand Goose Cnemiornis, the New Zealand Owlet-Nightjar, the mehonui Diaphorapteryx, the Long-Billed Wren Dendroscansor, the piopio Turnagra, and the Huia

NOVEMBER 30 - SIXTH EXTINCTION

And, for our last day, we cover recent Holocene extinctions (not on Hawai'i or Aotearoa) - the birds/dinosaurs we have lost in the living past, due largely to colonialism, capitalism, globalism, and climate change

Any bird extinct since 1492 not previously covered is fair game, and there are a lot of them. Today, we honor them, however we can.

Some suggestions include the Dodo (of course), the Cuban Macaw, the Pink-Headed Duck, the Northern Curlew, the Great Auk, the Passenger Pigeon, the Carolina Parakeet, the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker, the Labrador Duck, the Saint Helena Hoopoe, and the Spectacled Cormorant; though there are of course many otherse to choose from as well

Kind of a bummer note to end on, but here we are

Living Birds already get tons of time and attention, so we really don't want to include them here - we love them, but the fossils of the Neornithes world deserve love too! So we tried to cover all of the bases, as best as we could!

Remember, Wikipedia, the Paleobiology Database, The Works of Gerald Mayr, the third volume of "Earth Before Us", and the blogs of myself and @albertonykus and @otussketching are all fantastic resources to look for information about these wonderful animals! Also check out Through Time and Clades' "Dinosaurs: The Second Chapter" series and the Raptormaniacs blog from Albert as well!

HAVE FUN! CREATE WHAT YOU DREAM! AND LOVE CENOZOIC DINOSAURS!

HAPPY FOSSIL NOVEMBIRB!

#Fossil Novembirb #Novembirb #Dinovember #birblr #palaeoblr #Birds #Dinosaurs #Cenozoic Birds #Neornithines #Dinovembirb

613 notes · View notes