Bird Bone (?)

[dirtdauber]

Collected this small bone from a roadcut in south-central Alabama. Geology is Early Paleocene (Danian), Pine Barrens Mbr., Clayton Formation. Guessing bird, but not sure. The bone is about 1.5" (4 cm) long. It is about 5 mm wide on both ends and about 2 mm wide at the mid-point.

Thanks for any help.

[cowsharks]

Agree, def looks like bird bone. Auspex or Rich can confirm and possibly have further ID info for you once one of them see's your post.

Daryl.

[Auspex]

It is an avian tarsometatarsus. The erosion on the ends will make it a challenge to narrow-down the ID by much, but any Paleocene bird material is pretty freaking awesome!

[Scylla]

That's a pretty complete bird bone for a road cut find

[cowsharks]

....., but any Paleocene bird material is pretty freaking awesome!

Really? Now I have to go look through my Paleocene material from MD because I know I have at least one or two pieces of bird bone. Is brid material from the Paleocene rare?

[Auspex]

...Is brid material from the Paleocene rare?

Bird material is rare, in-and-of itself; the older, the rarer

[dirtdauber]

It is an avian tarsometatarsus. The erosion on the ends will make it a challenge to narrow-down the ID by much, but any Paleocene bird material is pretty freaking awesome!

Thanks, Auspex and Cowsharks for the ID. I really appreciate your expertise, Auspex. First birdbone that I've collected.

George

[dirtdauber]

That's a pretty complete bird bone for a road cut find

This is a pretty special road cut! It is visited fairly often by folks looking for shark teeth, but new material is exposed after heavy rains. I visit it about 3-4 times per year and typically find 1 or 2 small crabs, 20-30 small sharks teeth, and a fragment or two of fish or other vertebrate bone. Even collected a new species of crab which is awaiting publication, and now a bird bone. Not bad for a small road cut.

George