The article focuses on research into pelagornithid species of birds and how the species were able to fly while being larger than modern avians. It comments on paleontologist Edouard Lartet's discovery in 1857 of the first pelagornithid, dubbed Pelagornis (P.) micaenus, which had a humerus that measured nearly two feet long. It mentions the discovery of P. sandersi in 2014 with a humerus three feet in length and talks about the bird's aspect ratio, wing load, and wing shape like an albatross.