Description

Great Blue Heron
Late Pleistocene (Rancholabrean)
Rancho La Brea Formation
Maricopa Tar Pits
Kern County, California, USA
Great Blue Heron claw and other bones on 72mm matrix from the Tar Pits.

Bird. Association.

Bird bones are generally rare in the fossil record so it’s interesting to find specimens from any time period. The late Pleistocene was not that long ago, geologically speaking, so an ornithologist can often identify a bone as long as it has one well-preserved bone end. Most species found in the tar still live today. Claws can be trickier to identify but a friend thinks it compares best with the claws of the modern great blue heron.

Here is a cool jumble of bones that should interest anyone who collects bird specimens or anyone who wants a sample from the tar pits of California.