A newly identified seabird could be the largest bird ever capable of flight, thanks to a new study that could prove the animal was not too big to lift itself from the ground.

According to the Washington Post, Pelagornis sandersi, as the bird has been named, had a wingspan of 20 to 24 feet, easily the largest bird on record, if it could fly. The construction workers in North Carolina who found the fossil in 1983 needed a backhoe to unearth it.

Dan Ksepka, the paleontologist and science curator of the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Conn., authored a study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, that suggests the bird was capable of flight. Based on computer models, Ksepka determined the bird would have had to run downhill into a headwind to get into the air and then relied on ocean currents to continue to glide.

"Pelagornis sandersi could have traveled for extreme distances while crossing ocean waters in search of prey," Ksepka said in a press release.

Similar to a modern albatross, the Pelagornis bird would have lived 25 million years ago, its wingspan more than twice as long as its present-day counterpart. As it hunted for food, it used unique "pseudo teeth" to snatch prey from the waves.

"They don't have enamel, they don't grow in sockets, and they aren't lost and replaced throughout the creature's life span," Ksepka told the Washington Post. "Instead, the bone just extends from the jaw."

Previous estimations pegged the bird as being too big to fly because the bigger the wings, the harder it is for the bird to propel itself into the air. Ksepka also pointed to delicate bones and "dinky" legs as indicators the giant bird was able to fly. Though if it flew today, the bird would probably frighten people.

"[Pelagornis sandersi] is more like a dragon out of the Game of Thrones show than anything alive today," Ksepka told USA Today. "It's so spectacularly weird."