KEYNOTE ADDRESS

ALABAMA AUDUBON is pleased to have Dr. James Lamb offer the keynote address for the 2023 BLACK BELT BIRDING FESTIVAL, presenting—

THE BLACK BELT
Ancient Oceans, Dinosaurs in the Prairie

“Mention the effect geography has in influencing human history and culture in the Eastern United States and most people will think of the Appalachian Mountains. But did you know that the Black Belt is as unique geologically, geographically, and historically and has defined central Alabama to a degree few other regions can match? Covered by an inland sea during the Age of Dinosaurs, the Black Belt is underlain by rocks that upon weathering produce a soil type unique to the eastern United States and from which it derives its name. 

The rich black soil once hosted extensive Eastern Long Grass Prairie, and native prairie plant species not found anywhere else can still be found there. During the Ice Ages, it served as a refugia to plants and animals from the Great Plains of the central US, was once the most populous region of the state, was the epicenter of the US cotton industry and extensive slavery. The Black Belt can be mapped by voting records, land tax records, unemployment, rock type, soil type, vegetation, topography,  and can be seen from space. 

The Black Belt has produced more dinosaur skeletons than any other area east of the Mississippi River, all unique to Alabama. Ancient toothed birds once flew over shallow oceans in the Black Belt where catfish ponds now abound and lived alongside their dinosaur cousins.”

ABOUT DR. LAMB

Dr. James Lamb found his first fossil at age 4, and has been an avid collector ever since. He began his professional career in paleontology by excavating and preparing Basilosaurus cetoides, the Alabama State Fossil—a 65-foot-long, 38-million-year-old whale from south Alabama. Lamb has excavated Giant Ground Sloths from Ice Age caves in north Alabama; Dinosaur Age turtles, mosasaurs, and toothed birds from central Alabama; and fossil whales from south Alabama. He has excavated more dinosaurs from the eastern half of the United States than anyone to-date, and all from the Black Belt region of Alabama.

Dr. Lamb has worked on the most complete carnivorous, and the most complete herbivorous dinosaurs, from the eastern United States. Interestingly, he once discovered the only unhatched dinosaur egg ever found east of the Mississippi River, and it is also from Alabama. With more than 30 scientific publications, Lamb currently serves as the director of the Black Belt Museum at the University of West Alabama.