Help ID bone from Ramanessin Brook in NJ

[Biotalker]

I was at Ramanessin Brook yesterday 6/19/21 and met rather friendly and well informed Jeffrey P from fossil forum. Right after we parted I found this bone that reminds me of a mammal phalange of more recent times than the Cretaceous. Can anyone identify its previous owner and when they lived?

[Harry Pristis]

Looks like a cat proximal phalanx -- bobcat or even a house cat, maybe.

 

[Biotalker]

I just measured a proximal phalange from a adult cat skeleton and they measured no more than 9 mm long. So this would be from a larger cat species. Does the black color of the bone suggest fossilization or can contemporary bones become blackened like this? 

[Rockwood]

Modern bones blacken quite quickly from the iron in the brooks.