The saying "finds happen either at the beginning or the end of the field season" is absolutely true. On one of the last field days, a school was out with us and discovered the remains of a marine bird. Currently the fossil remains consist of 4 vertebrae (backbones) and possibly a rib. Although the remains seem small (2.5cm in length), this is a large size for birds. This specimen is from the genus Hesperornis as shown above and was anywhere from 1-1.5m in length. Pretty big for a bird. Unfortunately due to the lateness of the season the specimen will have to wait to be excavated at the beginning of next field season.
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