"Murderbirds" is a short work by Harry Turtledove, first published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Vol. XCIV No. 7 & 8, July/August 2024. It was published as "Flash Fiction", the successor category to the magazine's "Probability Zero" category.
Summary[]
An unnamed narrator and his partner, Frank have traveled back through time to the continent of Laramidia during the Late Cretaceous. Either they are on safari or they are part of some sort military mission. In any event, they are well armed and have survival gear and supplies. After taking stock of how different the Cretaceous is from the present, the narrator and Frank encounter several dinosaurs, including Quetzalcoatlus, Alamosaurus, and some tyrannosaurs. The narrator refers to the predatory dinosaurs as "murderbirds". They encounter a Dineobellator notohesperus, which Frank quickly dispatches with an M16. The two eat the dead "murderbird". When the narrator asks what he thinks of the dinosaur meat, Frank replies that it tastes like chicken. The narrator, used to Frank's sense of humor, takes the joke in stride.
