Yes, many coelurusaurian (sp?) dinosaurs were very much like birds. In
fact, all of them were basically built like birds.
Very true. In fact, one could approach this from the other direction and
say that birds are built like coelurosaurs, because they *are* coelurosaurs.
The major transitions from non-bird to bird include converting the
forelimbs into wings (which began prior to the advent of powered flight),
truncation of the tail (which wasn't begun in earnest until after
_Archaeopteryx_, and was paralleled in some non-avian theropods), and
shifting the center of mass forward requiring a novel hindlimb gait
(decoupling the femur from stride generation; probably also
post-_Archaeopteryx_).
It is just that, as far as we know, only birds were fully flighted.
I know some people who would give you argue on that, and claim that
microraptorans could fly too. Not me, though. :-)