Green River Bird Fossil Id

[Cianfaglione]

This is my first time posting to the fossil forum. I don't know if there is enough of the skeleton to narrow down an id to bird family, Rallidae? Phasianadae?

Comparisons to other online photos of Green River fossil birds were not helpful. All comments would be greatly appreciated.

[Fossildude19]

Beautiful fossil!

I cannot help with ID, but enlarged, and brightened your pic for others to see.

Thanks for posting this.

Regards,

[squali]

Welcome to TFF. I can't help with ID but that is a cool little bird.

I'm sure you'll be hearing from more knowledgeable folks soon.

[Auspex]

Maybe Gallinuloides sp?

The skull is a little broken up, but it seems to be a Galliform, at least, and G. wyoningensis is the best represented one from the formation.

[Missourian]

Beautiful specimen.

And welcome to the forum.

Edited December 17, 2014 by Missourian

[Xiphactinus]

Beautiful! Did you find it?

[sseth]

Beautiful bird.

[Cianfaglione]

Thank you all for the kind words and prompt responses! To answer the question about its origin..., the fossil was purchased it a couple years ago.

[fossilized6s]

Welcome! Nice piece.

[jpc]

I say Gallinuloides is as good a guess as I think we can get from here. Keep in mind also that there are about 25 species of GRF birds described, new ones being described every year, and a bunch more waiting to be described. This could be an undescribed species. When comparing yours to other pictures on the interwebs, consider shapes and lengths of individual bones as well as ratio of bone lengths, esp the wing bones. Often in the GR birds, the details such as bone end morphology is obscured by crushing and by still being half buried in rock. I don't know how you are searching the web, but you might want to try Google Scholar to see if you can find the origanal papers these birds were described in, and the original photos. Also be aware that some dealers may just tack a genus onto a GR bird to make it more sellable, so if you are looking at a Gallinuloides from a commercial site, consider how they IDed it. Do you have Lance Grande's latest Green River book.. I cant remember the title off hand, but he has good pix of most of the known birds.

[Cianfaglione]

Thank you jpc for the great information and for pointing me in the right direction! I also took your advice and just purchased Lance Grande's book, The Lost World of Fossil Lake, it gets great reviews and will make a nice addition to my growing library. Thanks again.

[jpc]

I would love to hear what you think your bird is after perusing the book. I'd do it for you, but I can't find the time to ID my own Eocene fossils.

Edited December 18, 2014 by jpc

[Cianfaglione]

Jpc, I will certainly do some research in the upcoming weeks and re-post the image with hopefully some new information regarding the fossils potential identification. Thank you again for recommendations.

[Herb]

very nice specimen

[Doctor Mud]

Can't help with the ID - but boy is that an awesome fossil!