Ever wondered how birds survived and dinosaurs became extinct? Our study group will walk through how dinosaurs gradually developed the trademark features of birds—feathers, wings, beaks, big brains, keen senses, and warm-blooded metabolisms. We will investigate how birds were the only kind of dinosaurs to survive the cataclysmic asteroid impact 66 million years ago, as well as how these survivors rapidly proliferated to produce the current diversity of avian species. We will conclude with an appreciation of the extraordinariness of birds alive today—penguins that literally fly underwater, parrots that can mimic human speech, and crows that can make tools and are smarter than most mammals. Our text is The Story of Birds: A New History from Their Dinosaur Origins to the Present (Mariner Press, 2026) by Illinois native and University of Chicago graduate Steve Brusatte. He is “one of the stars of modern paleontology” (National Geographic) and the author of the New York Times best sellers Rise and Fall of Dinosaurs and Rise and Reign of Mammals. We will complement our text with supplementary videos and additional materials.
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