The very first birds, Archaeopteryx, were huge terrifying beasts. They are one of the first known appearances of the feather, enabling this dinosaur to fly! Several others dinosaurs also had rudimentary feathering.
We are going to take a closer look at this marvel of engineering and see just how amazing it truly is! The next time you find a loose feather, spend some time looking at it closely, it really is a thing of practical beauty.
Despite having feathers, not all birds can fly. Birds can be divided roughly into flightless (emu, kiwi), limited flight (chickens) and full flight (songbirds, hawks).
Actually, archaeopteryx was not a 'huge, terrifying beast'. It was about the size of one of your beloved chickens, maybe a bit on the scrawny side. There is a beautifully preserved fossil, including feather impressions, in the American Museum of Natural History. It probably was not a very strong flyer-- at least one major skeletal modification present in most modern birds-- a deeply 'keeled' sternum-- was not present, which would have limited the size of its flight muscles and would likely have put constraints on its flight endurance.
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