I love to collect bones, feathers, and junk while hiking. In other ecosystems, I find small bits of bone, and an occasional feather. Human detritus along my trails includes sunglasses, a flip-flop, and shotgun shells. In ND, bones litter the prairies and I can spot them easily. Here are my prizes from this summer.

Snake skin still adhered to skeleton. Not sure how he met his demise–a bird would have swallowed him whole.

A close up of the snake’s head. You can see that his last act was to bite something, or at least try to fight back.

Bones from two different animals: large curved bone is a cow rib (I have the skull somewhere, too); the smaller piece is a jawbone with teeth intact.

Small deer. I spotted this carcass early summer, but it still had fur and meat. Recently I returned to the kill site and brought home the cleanest bones.

Small dog skull and pelvis, probably eaten by Great Horned Owl

White Pelican wing and feathers, mostly likely killed by another Great Horned Owl

More from White Pelican

I also found this wing section. After I identify it, I will kreturn it to the wild–it is illegal to possess these feathers