English: A romantic pair of beautiful Rahonavis ostromi (male below, female above) perching on a charred branch in the aftermath of a bushfire in the dry scrublands of Madagascar 70 million years ago. I’ve always wanted to reconstruct dromaeosaurids and other paravian dinosaurs (Rahonavis’s classification within Paraves is actually uncertain, Sharing traits of both avialans and dromaeosaurids) as actually bird-like animals, with alike looks and behaviours, reflecting their modern avian kin, and not just ravenous skeletal reconstructions with feathers stuck on as depicted in the majority of paleoart these days, even today. If you’re not convinced, look up art of them online. Also look up the skeleton of any extravagant-looking bird such as a turaco. Looks blander and more predictable than the same bird in life, doesn’t it? This reconstruction of Rahonavis took inspiration from many exotic avian species, particularly turacos, drongos, quails, and the crazy-looking Andean cock-of-the-rock. However, I was most importantly inspired by pheasants, not just in looks but also in biology, since I find bird-like non-avian dinosaurs under a meter very similar to them in many ways. In the case of Rahonavis, it was similarly large in size for a "bird" at 70 centimetres, and was probably also clumsy at flying. I couldn’t find much on its diet, especially that we have no tooth of this taxon preserved, but pheasant-like omnivorous foraging isn’t impossible. I decided to reflect these many pheasant-y behaviours in this piece, as well as showing these two Rahonavis perching, since pheasants and other gamebirds often perch on and even roost in trees. Last thing about this piece, I wanted to give this artwork a vivid, ‘80’s vibe, inspired by photographs of exotic birds and the style of artists like Wayne Barlowe (Expedition for life), especially with the colourful evening sky.. This is one of my favourite pieces now.