I hope you all had an enjoyable Yuletide, I’ve certainly been glad of the excuse for a lie-in over the last few days.
The mystery object is a bit late today, but I hope you’ll forgive me in light of the general seasonal torpor.
Here’s a sternum that I’ve been puzzling over for a while – I can make a pretty good guess at the family it comes from, but I’m less sure of the species:
I’d appreciate seeing what you think it might be – let’s see if we can work this out!
Zygoma 
Perhaps about the size of a feral pigeon and from the shape of the keel I think it’s more of a gliding/soaring bird than a flapper.
The posterior end of the sternum is double notched.
Wild guess: Storm Petrel (though that may be too large).
Size is about right (perhaps a smidgeon bigger than pigeon) – hadn’t considered a Procellariiform – I’ll take a look!
S*r*x *l*c* !
Looks good!
Think I might have one of those to compare, Jake… I’ll look it out tomorrow if I get a chance.
That’s the area I was thinking of 😉
The double-notched posterior edge and the relatively shallow keel all point toward seabirds. I’m looking around. But, I wanted to say that I will be expecting my students to follow this blog this term. The observational quality of its participants is unparalleled. Best to all in the New Year!
Thanks Daniel, I hadn’t considered seabirds, I was thinking along the same lines as Jake. I’ll see if I can find some more seabirds for comparison.
As to the observational quality of the participants I’d have to agree – the contributors are what makes it worthwhile running the blog!
A very cool bone indeed. I’m going for someone in the family Halcyonidae. A Kingfisher for Christmas!
Ooh, hadn’t considered the Kingfishers – I have a Kookaburra skeleton for comparison in our stores, I’ll check it out!