putt510 Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 This past Saturday, I went down to Randle Cliffs to look for some fossils. I actually got there first but not for very long. I wasnt having much luck at first, but once the people caught up to me, I started finding bone fragments. At one spot I found some interesting bone fragments; a bird bone and a shell fragment from a turtle. I found a lot of shark teeth and more bone fragments. Can anyone confirm that these two are a turtle bone fragment and a fossilized miocene bird bone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 Way to go! Your bird bone is the proximal +/- 2/3s of a tibiotarsus. I am not able to ID it beyond that, nor can I confirm its age. "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...
mrieder79 Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 Randle Cliffs? That's where I used to hunt as a kid. The meg in my avatar came from there. It's great to hear that it is still open and people can still hunt there. I had tons of fun there about 25 years ago. Congrats on the find, by the way. Luck is the most important skill of a fossil diver. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
putt510 Posted January 5, 2015 Author Share Posted January 5, 2015 Way to go! Your bird bone is the proximal +/- 2/3s of a tibiotarsus. I am not able to ID it beyond that, nor can I confirm its age. Thanks; do you know if there is anybody that may know what genus or species it came from? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 Thanks; do you know if there is anybody that may know what genus or species it came from? In hand, someone like Alan Feduccia at UNC might narrow things down. From where I'm sitting, many crucial features are missing, but what is there is consistent with family Pelicaniformes, as in Cormorant. Don't print that label in ink, though. Was it in-matrix, or float? "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...
putt510 Posted January 6, 2015 Author Share Posted January 6, 2015 In hand, someone like Alan Feduccia at UNC might narrow things down. From where I'm sitting, many crucial features are missing, but what is there is consistent with family Pelicaniformes, as in Cormorant. Don't print that label in ink, though. Was it in-matrix, or float? Ok thanks. The only way that I would be able to get him to see it in person, would be if I were in North carolina. Oh well, maybe sometime in the future. I thought that I had the better end; I will I will be able to find the other end with some lottery luck. Do you think that it would be safe enough to put "possible Pelicaniformes"? I found the bone as float in the intertidal zone about a meter out from the surf line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
putt510 Posted January 6, 2015 Author Share Posted January 6, 2015 Does anyone have any idea with the turtle bone? I think that it is a piece of the plastron. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 Were it mine, I might label it "Pelicaniformes ?", with the details of where found (Randel Cliffs, intertidal float). An age cannot be ascribed. I agree that the other piece is from a turtle plasteron. "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...
putt510 Posted January 6, 2015 Author Share Posted January 6, 2015 Were it mine, I might label it "Pelicaniformes ?", with the details of where found (Randel Cliffs, intertidal float). An age cannot be ascribed. I agree that the other piece is from a turtle plasteron. When I say intertidal, I'm referring the low tide as a blow out tide. Or would it be more helpful to say that it was about a meter out from that morning's low tide surf line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 When I say intertidal, I'm referring the low tide as a blow out tide. Or would it be more helpful to say that it was about a meter out from that morning's low tide surf line. That's fine, any factual information, no matter how seemingly trivial. Ink is cheap, and memory is short. The key data here is that it was not found in context in the matrix. "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...
putt510 Posted January 6, 2015 Author Share Posted January 6, 2015 That's fine, any factual information, no matter how seemingly trivial. Ink is cheap, and memory is short. The key data here is that it was not found in context in the matrix. Ok, thanks for clarifying that for me. I like to be as scientific as possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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