 Though some reconstructions show pelagornithids as diving birds in the manner of gannets, the thin-walled highly pneumatized bones which must have fractured easily judging from the state of fossil specimens make such a mode of feeding unlikely, if not outright dangerous.Rather, prey would have been picked up from immediately below the ocean surface while the birds were flying or swimming, and they probably submerged only the beak in most situations.Their quadrate bone articulation with the lower jaw resembled that of a pelican or other birds that can open their beak widely.