Winner of the July 2024 Vertebrate Fossil Of The Month

[digit]

The winner of the July 2024 VFOTM goes to...

 

Bird (possibly Mousebird / Coliiformes) - Eocene, Green River Formation, Sandwich Layer - Kemmerer, Wyoming

Congratulations to @debivort !!!

[trilobites_are_awesome]

What an Incredible find amazing congrats!

[RJB]

I have to confess, I have not been paying attention to this part of the fossil forum.  Now I'm glad I checked this out.  A magnificent find!  Congrats

 

RB

[Ludwigia]

Yay! Now let's get that tweety bird prepped so that we can have a good look at it

[debivort]

Thanks @trilobites_are_awesome and @RJB

As a bit of an update, the folks in possession of the bird have had it x-rayed:
 

It seems like our guess as to the arrangement of the bones was more or less right. The lower wing looks disarticulated. Hopefully there is good preservation of the feathers! I'm in the same camp as y'all and can't wait to see it prepped. I think it will take a long while...

[JohnJ]

Congratulations!

[Pagurus]

 

Congratulations. What an impressive find!

[Coco]

Congrats for this incredible find !

 

Coco

[Shellseeker]

3 hours ago, debivort said:

As a bit of an update, the folks in possession of the bird have had it x-rayed:

Love the Xray,  Unbelievable find... goosebumps

Wondered if I could find a recent Mousebird from Kemmerer:..This one donated to a Museum in Chicago

[debivort]

30 minutes ago, Shellseeker said:

Wondered if I could find a recent Mousebird from Kemmerer:..This one donated to a Museum in Chicago

This was the previous bird found by the outfit that led our dig! (and the general similarity of the skeleton of my bird and this one is the reason we think the new one might be a mousebird)

Edited August 10 by debivort

[Fin Lover]

Congratulations @debivort!

[Jaybot]

10 hours ago, Shellseeker said:

Wondered if I could find a recent Mousebird from Kemmerer:..This one donated to a Museum in Chicago

That is also the same specimen that our own @Ptychodus04 prepped!  Truly an incredible find, prep, and hopefully exhibit.  There is a thread pinned in the fossil preparation section in which he documents the preparation process.

 

Will be interesting to see how @debivort's find looks once prepped out.  Question: is it just me, or is the skull not visible in the x-ray?

 

Oh, congrats on the deserved win by the way @debivort!!!  Incredible find, non fish stuff from the GRF is very cool.

[debivort]

12 minutes ago, Jaybot said:

Question: is it just me, or is the skull not visible in the x-ray?

Oh, good spotting. What we had thought to be the skull and orbit is pretty clearly some curved long bones (ribs) and the left wing. Maybe the skull is folded over the radius and ulna of that wing? I am indeed unsure where it is! If it's not in this slab hopefully it is in the negative slab, which does contain some of the specimen.

[Ptychodus04]

Often, the head is missing. It doesn’t take much decomposition for it to come off and move away from the specimen. Even without a skull, it’s an amazing find.

 

Congratulations.

[old bones]

Congratulations, @debivort! Incredible fossil!

[Mike from North Queensland]

Congratulations dream find

[debivort]

On 8/12/2024 at 4:58 PM, Mike from North Queensland said:

Congratulations dream find

Thanks, Mike!

[jpc]

Excellent find.  I also had a tough time seeing the skull.  Except for the beak, skull bone are very thin and may not x ray very well. I spent a few minutes staring at that cool x-ray and I can ID almost all the bones except for that weird piece on the right edge of the block. (To the right of 1.617 in)  I don't think there is a skull.  Still... great fossil.  

[Brian James Maguire]

Yay! Well deserved! Excellent specimen