By Eric Miller
With about 6,684 acres of water surface, it’s the most noticeable geographic entity you see when landing or taking off at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. It’s a focal point of local activity, from picnics to fireworks displays and outings on the water. It’s surrounded by jogging and hiking trails, as well as facilities for soccer, tennis and other sports. I’m talking of course about Lake Grapevine.
What may be lesser known about Lake Grapevine was its recent revealing of the oldest bird fossil in North America. This past spring, a sharp-eyed collector found a roadrunner-like bird fossil known as Flexomornis howei, named after its discoverer. Scientists knew the bird existed on other continents, but there was little evidence of its presence in North America. That was until Kris Howe came across a few bones during a dig at Lake Grapevine.
It’s not the first time something other than the usual became part of an outing to this inland Texas lake. In 2006 low water levels revealed imprints several inches deep in sandstone bedrock — believed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to be those of the hadrosaur, a duckbilled plant-eating dinosaur that lived about 96 million years ago. Dinosaur tracks were also found at the lake in 1982. Needless to say, the news sent dozens of parents and schoolchildren to the lake for a look.
A model of what Flexomornis howei might have looked like is on display at the
Museum of Nature & Science at Dallas Fair Park.