MarcoSr Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 (edited) Here are some Eocene bird bones that I collected years ago. I have been trying to get a bird expert to look at these for a while. I took these pictures to send to a bird expert to see if I could peak his interest in looking at these specimens. Because of the fragmentary nature of a lot of them, they might not all be identifiable beyond just being bird specimens. However, hopefully some of the specimens can be identified to a family or a genus or even a species. There are a couple of these that I’m not sure are bird like specimen 15 but I believe the vast majority are. Eocene bird bones from the Mid-Atlantic region are actually very rare. The specimen sizes are contained in the picture file names. Continued in the next reply. Marco Sr. Edited October 15, 2013 by MarcoSr "Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day." My family fossil website Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros My Extant Shark Jaw Collection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcoSr Posted October 14, 2013 Author Share Posted October 14, 2013 (edited) I have another 20 or so bird bones that are just straight bones without either end, like the two below, that are probably not identifiable. Marco Sr. Edited October 15, 2013 by MarcoSr "Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day." My family fossil website Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros My Extant Shark Jaw Collection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 Wow... that is an impressive collection of bird bones.... Can't help with ID's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcoSr Posted October 15, 2013 Author Share Posted October 15, 2013 Wow... that is an impressive collection of bird bones.... Can't help with ID's. Jean-Pierre I have more but they are just straight pieces of bone with both ends missing. I doubt they would be identifiable. I found these years ago looking through a lot of matrix. Over the years I've sent pictures to different bird experts at different museums and never heard back from any of them. Marco Sr. "Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day." My family fossil website Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros My Extant Shark Jaw Collection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcoSr Posted April 18, 2014 Author Share Posted April 18, 2014 As an update, I sent this collection of bird bones to Dr. Storrs Olson at the Smithsonian. This is a preliminary update that I just received from Dr. Olson. "This is a really valuable collection. I have a sincere continuing interest in seeing the ....... site birds worked on as it is the only place in the Northern Hemisphere between England and Wyoming with a real fossil avifauna. Therefore it is extremely important from a biogeographical standpoint. The best preserved little tarsus of yours is definitely referable to the Primobucconidae, maybe the genus Primobucco, which are birds with a tarsus structure like modern puffbirds and jacamars, although the relationships are otherwise in some doubt. I think yours is probably the best preserved specimen of a tarsus of this group as yet reported, most of the others being in slabs. I didn't get very far with the rest of the material .... but I did not see anything that I could say was definitely not bird." I am extremely happy that these bird bones are now being evaluated by an avian expert like Dr. Olson and that he considers them to have value. I plan to donate all of the bones to the Smithsonian which have scientific value. Marco Sr. "Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day." My family fossil website Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros My Extant Shark Jaw Collection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 Well done! Dr. Olson's observation as to the biogeographical importance of your site as an avifaunal assemblage is supremely insightful. "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossilized6s Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 Very cool Marco! Congrats! ~Charlie~ "There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why.....i dream of things that never were, and ask why not?" ~RFK ->Get your Mosasaur print ->How to spot a fake Trilobite ->How to identify a CONCRETION from a DINOSAUR EGG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 That's awesome, Marco! The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcoSr Posted April 20, 2014 Author Share Posted April 20, 2014 Well done! Dr. Olson's observation as to the biogeographical importance of your site as an avifaunal assemblage is supremely insightful. Very cool Marco! Congrats! That's awesome, Marco! I actually sent 70+ bird bones from the site to Dr. Olson. I had another 25 or so larger bones in a Riker display that I did not include in the pictures of this post that I also sent to Dr. Olson. Other collectors over the years have sent at least 100+ bird bones from the site to Dr. Olson. Hopefully what I sent will add to the knowledge of Eocene birds from the site. Marco Sr. "Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day." My family fossil website Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros My Extant Shark Jaw Collection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PFOOLEY Posted April 21, 2014 Share Posted April 21, 2014 ...I am extremely happy that these bird bones are now being evaluated by an avian expert like Dr. Olson and that he considers them to have value... I'm happy for you. Congrats! That's big news. "I am glad I shall never be young without wild country to be young in. Of what avail are forty freedoms without a blank spot on the map?" ~Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) New Mexico Museum of Natural History Bulletins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted April 21, 2014 Share Posted April 21, 2014 (edited) Excellent and Exciting. You will be putting this site on the Map of Eocene Bird material... right there (to paraphrase Olson) between the Green River Fm and Sheppey. Edited April 21, 2014 by jpc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sseth Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 What a fantastic collection and a very important one. _____________________________________ Seth www.fossilshack.com www.americanfossil.com www.fishdig.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scylla Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 Wow, I wish we could see the rest too. Great job Marco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lissa318 Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 That is wonderful MarcoSr!!!!!! Congrats!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcoSr Posted April 23, 2014 Author Share Posted April 23, 2014 I'm happy for you. Congrats! That's big news. Excellent and Exciting. You will be putting this site on the Map of Eocene Bird material... right there (to paraphrase Olson) between the Green River Fm and Sheppey. What a fantastic collection and a very important one. Wow, I wish we could see the rest too. Great job Marco That is wonderful MarcoSr!!!!!! Congrats!!! Thank you. I wonder how many other sites that contain Eocene bird bones might be waiting to be discovered in the eastern US. Like Jean-Pierre and Dr. Olson said, the closed site where I found these bird bones is the only significant Eocene bird site between Shippey in England and the Green River Formation in Wyoming in the western US. I wish now that I had taken pictures of the larger bones. I don't typically take pictures of my larger specimens unless I'm posting them on my family website because I can see their details fairly easily in their displays versus the smaller specimens whose details are not so visible in their gem jars. Marco Sr. "Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day." My family fossil website Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros My Extant Shark Jaw Collection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowsharks Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 Congrats Marco. If you get a chance, go visit Dr. Olson if you can. When I was there years ago to donate my bird bones from that same location, I got to see a lot of the material that was donated from that site - it was amazing! Plus I got to see a bunch of behind the scenes type of fossils. Daryl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcoSr Posted April 25, 2014 Author Share Posted April 25, 2014 Congrats Marco. If you get a chance, go visit Dr. Olson if you can. When I was there years ago to donate my bird bones from that same location, I got to see a lot of the material that was donated from that site - it was amazing! Plus I got to see a bunch of behind the scenes type of fossils. Daryl. Daryl Luckily most of the major collectors from the site donated all of their bird and mammal specimens. I donated my mammal specimens years ago but just couldn't get either my bird or shark/ray material looked at. Mike F. donated a good amount of the mammal and bird material from the site. Recently I had a colleague of Dr. Weems look at my collection from the site for small reptile and amphibian specimens. He didn't find a single one. That was surprising considering that the site was near shore and at least some mammal material made it into the fauna. I have a good number of shark and ray species that have not been reported from the site but I haven't been able to get Kent to look at my collection. Gerard R. Case looked at some of my shark/ray material from the site and confirmed my belief that I do have unreported and new species of shark and ray from the site. But I must be a red-headed step child in that I just don't seem to be able to get the paleontologists to look at my collection. Marco Sr. "Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day." My family fossil website Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros My Extant Shark Jaw Collection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowsharks Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 ... But I must be a red-headed step child in that I just don't seem to be able to get the paleontologists to look at my collection. Marco Sr. You're not alone there unfortunately. I too have shark and ray material that I believe hasn't been reported on, but I never could figure out who to have look at it. It seem's like after the book came out for the site, that interest slowly faded and the newness of everything wore off, and then folks (collectors and scientists) moved on to other things. Yet, folks like you, me, and at least a couple others I know, have material in their collections that should surely be of interest to some paleontologist out there. Until which time such a person shows interest, I'll just hold on to my material. Daryl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcoSr Posted April 26, 2014 Author Share Posted April 26, 2014 You're not alone there unfortunately. I too have shark and ray material that I believe hasn't been reported on, but I never could figure out who to have look at it. It seem's like after the book came out for the site, that interest slowly faded and the newness of everything wore off, and then folks (collectors and scientists) moved on to other things. Yet, folks like you, me, and at least a couple others I know, have material in their collections that should surely be of interest to some paleontologist out there. Until which time such a person shows interest, I'll just hold on to my material. Daryl. Daryl There is usually a lot of interest in new and unreported dinosaur, mammal, or bird specimens. Definitely not the same interest in shark, ray and especially fish material, especially with the micro specimens that I collect. I am losing faith that I'll ever find a reputable paleontologist who will want to describe a lot of the shark and ray specimens that I have. I am just worried that at some point down the road my stuff will wind up being sold in a flea market somewhere for a few dollars. Marco Sr. "Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day." My family fossil website Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros My Extant Shark Jaw Collection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcoSr Posted March 4, 2016 Author Share Posted March 4, 2016 As an update to this post, the Smithsonian was unable to find anyone willing to examine/study these bird bones and they were all returned to me. I'm currently deciding what to do with them. Marco Sr. "Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day." My family fossil website Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros My Extant Shark Jaw Collection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted March 4, 2016 Share Posted March 4, 2016 I appreciate your desire to keep these in local hands, but have you contacted Alan Feduccia at UNC? A professor affiliated with a university might have a PhD candidate or two for whom this would be a terrific opportunity. 1 "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted March 4, 2016 Share Posted March 4, 2016 wow.. that is pretty shocking and unfortunate. Have you contacted Dan Kspeka at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich CT. He is working on some of the Green River birds that the Field Museum recently acquired. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcoSr Posted March 4, 2016 Author Share Posted March 4, 2016 I appreciate your desire to keep these in local hands, but have you contacted Alan Feduccia at UNC? A professor affiliated with a university might have a PhD candidate or two for whom this would be a terrific opportunity. wow.. that is pretty shocking and unfortunate. Have you contacted Dan Kspeka at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich CT. He is working on some of the Green River birds that the Field Museum recently acquired. Chas/Jean-Pierre I am really disappointed. The Smithsonian already has a number of bird bones from the site and I had wanted to add these to that group. However, I wanted someone to at least examine them and not just put them in a drawer in the basement or into one of their many warehouses. I have not contacted either Alan Feduccia at UNC or Dan Kspeka at the Bruce Museum. I appreciate those contacts. I had wanted to keep the bones in the DC/MD/VA area near where they were found but I'm running out of options here. The bones were at the Smithsonian for almost two years. I want to make sure that their next stop is a permanent home where they at least will be looked at. I have 78 total with a number of nice bones that I didn't photograph for this post. Marco Sr. "Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day." My family fossil website Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros My Extant Shark Jaw Collection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siteseer Posted March 5, 2016 Share Posted March 5, 2016 Marco Sr., Well, that is weird. No one wanted to take a look at some Early Eocene bird bones? You could try contacting Dr. David W. Steadman at the University of Florida. Jess As an update to this post, the Smithsonian was unable to find anyone willing to examine/study these bird bones and they were all returned to me. I'm currently deciding what to do with them. Marco Sr. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boesse Posted March 5, 2016 Share Posted March 5, 2016 We've got a growing collection of Atlantic coastal plain Paleogene & Neogene marine vertebrates here at College of Charleston, and a high likelihood of the fossils being studied AND going on display. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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