Possible fish or maybe bird bone

[almach]

Here is a photo of either a fish or bird bone.   Bone appears to be solid.

 

Muddy Creek, VA.  Nanjemoy Fm.  Eocene

 

[Fossildude19]

@MarcoSr  @Al Dente

[Al Dente]

Interesting piece. What does the other side look like?

[rocket]

and a view from the left side (on your pic), thanks

[almach]

Here are both sides of the bone.

[Brandy Cole]

Left side kind of reminds me of a tibia.

 

Face-on views of the ends of the sides could also be helpful.

[JohnJ]

@Auspex@jpc

[MarcoSr]

On 5/16/2022 at 2:18 PM, Fossildude19 said:

@MarcoSr  @Al Dente

 

Interesting specimen.  If the bone is solid, it isn't a bird bone, as they are hollow with very thin walls.  It is hard to tell from the picture, but if the bone is black in color and somewhat shinny, it is a bony fish bone.

 

Marco Sr,

[jpc]

I agree that the left end looks like distal tibia, but the rest of it is weird.  This one may need to be seen in the hand... at least by me.  But if you could show us end on views of both ends.....

[C.P. Sheridan]

I live in Jersey but I am always impressed by the variety of fossils that come from Virginia. This is a crazy cool fossil from a formation that I am pretty familiar with...while most people will default to fish, I think its bird for several reasons I will not illustrate here- therefore rare... I hope you might take it to a paleontologist or comparative anatomist (professional) if only for a look see. Thanks for showing this! 

[Coco]

5 hours ago, C.P. Sheridan said:

I think its bird for several reasons I will not illustrate here-

Why ?

 

Coco

[JohnJ]

13 hours ago, C.P. Sheridan said:

I think its bird for several reasons I will not illustrate here- therefore rare... I hope you might take it to a paleontologist or comparative anatomist (professional) if only for a look see.

 

A curious statement, Chris, that begs a question. 

 

Hopefully @almach can post more images and get it examined by a local paleontologist.

[almach]

Hello,

 

I do know a couple of paleontologists but I don't know when I could get to show it to them. I will try to get a couple more photos of each end of the bone.

[Auspex]

After the first wash of excitement, closer examination of the images revealed more 'not-bird' details than I can dismiss. More images (especially end-view) might help.

[almach]

38 minutes ago, Auspex said:

After the first wash of excitement, closer examination of the images revealed more 'not-bird' details than I can dismiss. More images (especially end-view) might help.

I am  right now preparing to take photos of the ends of the bone (Hope photo works). I will post them if they come out ok.

[almach]

Here are the last two photos of the bone since the bone is no more. I guess it was too weak when I went to photo the other end, and the bone shattered.  Not the first time I lost a fossil do to griping it too hard.  Could not find the rest of it, sorry.  The first photo shows the side that does appear hollow, the other side did seem to be solid.  Not the end of the world!