Jump to content

Real Bird Fossil Vs A Piece Of Rock.


PaleoRon

Recommended Posts

In the swap/sell section someone has posted a 'rare bird fossil". I have only been collecting fossils for about 30 years, but it just looks like a piece of road rock to me. In order to save someone the embarrassment of calling a museum to come and collect their driveway for the advancement of avian science, I am posting a couple of pics of some real bird fossils. The miscellaneous long bones are all river finds from several dive trips. The skull is an Alca from the Lee Creek mine in North Carolina. I found it in 2007 in Unit 2 of the Pliocene Yorktown fm. It is currently being studied in the Natural History Museum in Raleigh, North Carolina. This is the first time I have dealt with this Museum but the people working there are friendly and knowledgeable. In the past all of the bird fossils I have found, including one from the Paleocene of Maryland, went to the Smithsonian. Have fun collecting and watch out for flying rocks.

Ron

post-210-1201381380_thumb.jpg

post-210-1201381649_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I saw the bird in the trading section. It is so obviously not a fossil. I even think it maybe tarmac with stones embedded in it!!! I didn't reply as several people already had and the poster was getting rather stressed about the negative comments!!

The real danger of people selling either ignorantly or worse knowingly fake fossils is that people new to the hobby waste money on fakes.

I too have collected several birds the best being a complete skull from the London Clay in Kent, England

It is about 3 inches long.

post-185-1201623320_thumb.jpg

post-185-1201623326_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

here is an eocen bird wing i collected a couple years ago. it is from the split fish layers of the green river formation in kemmerer wyoming.

2008012910525826.JPG

nice skulls guys. i would love to be able to find one some day.

keep up the good work.

brock

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice find brock!!!

"Turn the fear of the unknown into the excitment of possibility!"


We dont stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are very few complete bird skulls from the London Clay of Kent. I have had this one looked at by various amateur experts and we are pretty sure it is a new species.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are very few complete bird skulls from the London Clay of Kent. I have had this one looked at by various amateur experts and we are pretty sure it is a new species.

Well dang, Gary... That makes it ten times better!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I need to start posting pictures of some of my stuff, so here goes: here's a bird rostrum that I found while preparing a baleen whale skull from the late Miocene Purisima Formation of central California. Pics of the baleen whale skull to follow later in its own post...

The specimen is about 2.5cm long, or 1"

Bobby

post-225-1201853666_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't have a lot of bird fossils, just the usual stuff. Except . . . I do have this claw core from the "Terror Bird" (not my coinage) of Florida. This is a rare bird, indeed, and almost all of these Titanis fossils are museum specimens. The species is named after Ben Waller, one of the early diver-collectors in the Santa Fe.

post-42-1201919682_thumb.jpg

http://pristis.wix.com/the-demijohn-page

 

What seest thou else

In the dark backward and abysm of time?

---Shakespeare, The Tempest

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't have a lot of bird fossils, just the usual stuff. Except . . . I do have this claw core from the "Terror Bird" (not my coinage) of Florida. This is a rare bird, indeed, and almost all of these Titanis fossils are museum specimens. The species is named after Ben Waller, one of the early diver-collectors in the Santa Fe.

Harry, that is...amazing.... That bird has got to be one of my favorite things, and it's always been on my goal list to find something from. Thanks for posting.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...