“Trace fossils definitely do tell stories,” said Conner Bennett, lead author of a study describing the find and three others ...

“We don’t have the body of this bird. It’s more just like we’re left with its actions, its behaviors. It’s like trying to study ghosts.” Trace fossils can fill in gaps in the fossil ...

But of course birds in flight leave no trace—at least none visible to the naked eye. Bou, now 38, spent the past five years trying to capture the elusive contours drawn by birds in motion ...

“We don’t have the body of this bird. It’s more just like we’re left with its actions, its behaviors. It’s like trying to study ghosts.” Trace fossils can fill in gaps in the fossil ...