Brontornis burmeisteri, which means "Burmeister's Thunderbird", was an extinct species of giant flightless birds Phorusrhacidae, commonly nicknamed as terror birds, that lived in what is now Patagonia during the Miocene. Until the discovery of Kelenken guillermori in 1999 (though this is only a technicality as though Kelenken was nearly half a foot taller than Brontornis, it weighed half as much), Brontornis was considered to be the largest phorusrhacid, measuring up to 9.2 feet tall and weighing up to 880 pounds, making it the third heaviest bird ever. Due to its bulk, Brontornis would not have been a pursuit predator like other terror birds and would've likely been an ambush predator hunting large, slow prey like the elephant-like ungulate Astrapotherium. Because of its size, it would've been the dominant carnivore, competing with smaller phorusrachids like Phorusrhacos and packs of the sabertoothed marsupial Thylacosmilus. Brontornis went extinct around 11.6 million years ago.
@grimreaper have you seen the evidence they might have actually been herbivores? I forget the compound, but it was a ratio of the compound, which was how calcium was absorbed and converted into bone, showed closer resemblance to both elephants and sauropod dinosaurs. They were also apparently pretty slow (still could outrun a human). It kind of makes sense... they'd be going around cracking giant nuts. The thing is... that beak would still be absolutely terrifying if you ever managed to piss one off.
yeah... with a beak sharper than an eagles' and a bite force closer to an owl parrot (a Kakapo).. which is right around the bite force of a lion.
A giant dodo would be way chiller.
A giant dodo would be way chiller.