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I just got back from day one of the three-quarry, three-day huntapalooza (hence the 3Q/3D). A few of our members will be with us for one, two, or all three days and locations. Day one was Arkona, and we had on site @Malcolmt, @Shamalama, and @crinus. For me, it was a first time meeting the latter two, and they are certainly great TFF guys. After a while, it was just me and Malcolm continuing on for the whole 8 hours of bench-clearing, hauling and splitting. I think we made out pretty well in the Widder. We probably cleared out a good 15 or more feet. We were so engrossed in our chase for Greenops that we hardly had any time or thought for photos. But I did manage to snap this one of our bench from halfway through the day:

Deb and me spent about 7 hours in Arkona at the Hungry Holllow site where we had an opportunity to dig with @Northern Sharks and @middevonian - both great guys to crack rocks with - and two fossil club guests who were being shown around for the first time. My day started off in the south pit where I fussed about in the coral biostrome of the HH member. There are some interspersed shale-y layers that can produce marine fossils other than coral. The high energy environment of its deposition means finding more or less fragments of trilos, a few brachs, pelecypods, bryozoan colonies, and crinoid stems/ossicles. Eldredgeops is by far one of the most common to find in these layers, but not so common to find full. That being said, they can come out fairly robust. We were finding some big fragments. In one (not pictured) that was half a cephalon, the eye alone was probably the size of a Tic-Tac. Pictured here is the biggest cephalon I pulled from the biostrome - a fairly plump glabella on this one: . E. rana are nice, but my real goal was to bag a full Pseudodechenella. No dice on that one today, but at least some Crassiproetus pygidium fragments:

Hello everyone! Yesterday, Viola and I were able to visit Hungry Hollow (near Arkona, Ontario), and we had a wonderful time! When we last visited the site back in April, it was cold and cloudy; yesterday, it was hot and sunny, and there were no bugs to bother us, so we were in the South Pit collecting fossils the entire time (about 3.5 hours). Unfortunately I didn't take many pictures, but I blame that on all of the fossils that were calling to me - they wouldn't let me take a break to take pictures! In all seriousness, though, it was a fantastic day out with my little girl - please enjoy the pictures I do have to share with you. Oh, and for those of you that aren't familiar with the rocks at Hungry Hollow - they are Mid-Devonian. Picture #1: Viola just before we headed into the South Pit Picture #2: Viola searching for brachiopods (as usual!) Picture #3: a spiny brachiopod - does anyone know its identity? @Kane Picture #4: a couple of "mommy and baby" Mucrospirifer thedfordensis (I think!) brachiopods - Bob O'Donnell found and gave the one on the right to Viola, while I found and am going to keep the one on the left so we each have one to remember our times together fossil-hunting Picture #5: a gastropod - Platyceras sp. - does anyone know the species name? Picture #6: I found my own Tornoceras sp. - hooray!!! Back in April, Bob found one and gave it to Viola, and I have to admit that I was a little envious because they're so pretty. Well, yesterday I found this specimen, and it's a really pretty shade of purple - I'm in love (Is the species name arkonense, by the way?) Picture #7: A coral with an epibiont on top of it - someone yesterday (I believe his name was Darren - he also gave Viola a bottle of water while we were in the pit - a very nice guy!) told me what it is, but I can't recall what he said. Any ideas? Picture #8: This is probably my favourite hash plate that I found yesterday because there is so much going on - bryozoans, corals, and crinoids - oh my! And perhaps a bit of a trilobite peeking out near the top...? Well that's all for now. I'll likely add more photos after we wash Viola's finds and look through all of our fossils more carefully. Thanks for reading! Monica

Hi everyone! I'm finally starting to go through some of the things that Viola and I found when we visited Hungry Hollow back in April in preparation of doing a trade, and I was looking for some help with identifying the following items: Item #1, front and back: A tabulate coral perhaps? I think I can see corallites in the "back" photo... (or maybe a bryozoan...) Item #2, front and back: Another tabulate coral? (or perhaps another bryozoan...) Item #3, front and back: A bryozoan? This one looks different - it kind of looks like frilly layers... Thanks in advance! I may end up posting more stuff so keep an eye out for more requests for help!!! Monica

As I was collecting at Arkona in the Widder Fm yesterday, my eye was drawn to this piece. It had a lot going for it - apparent texture, concentric ribbing, suggestive shape. Not knowing for sure at that moment, and not wanting to spend valuable collecting time deliberating on it when I had a lot of shale to move, I simply put it in the bucket so that I could take a closer look when I got home. My question for those who know more about taphonomy and such would be this: can anyone tell me a bit more on the processes that produce this kind of nodular form? The concentric patterns are kind of throwing me, almost as though there was some reworking due to tidal turbulence, like mixing dough in a bowl. I'd certainly appreciate learning a bit more about this phenomenon, as it provides me a bit more by way of clues as I move from layer to layer.

The missus had an errand to run and asked if I'd like to be dropped off at Arkona for a few hours. Of course, I never turn down an opportunity to get out and collect! It started drizzling, and then pouring. I was still adamant on going, and glad I did. Planning around the weather this year in SW Ontario seems an exercise in futility, as it has been a largely wet and unpredictable season as opposed to more even keel prior years. One of the slim advantages of going to Arkona in the rain is that you can actually see things much better when the ground is wet. As I was going in to the south pit, some intrepid fossil collectors were on their way out, soaked to the skin. They had had enough. They probably thought me foolish for thinking of going down there. And it was indeed mucky. At one point, with the accumulated sticky Arkona clay under my boots, I briefly experienced what life would be like four inches taller. The rains varied in intensity, from a mild drizzle to a somewhat frustrating downpour. Undaunted, I was going to make the most of my two precious hours even as I felt a whole lot heavier being soaked through, runnels and rivulets of rain running roughshod over my ragged mien - lol. I was not gunning for my usual fare this day given the short amount of time and the weather conditions, so it was more about casual surface collecting in the south pit. And so poking through the Arkona clay, I figured I'd beef up my goniatite collection. Here is a row of them in ascending order of size. I am actually quite surprised and proud to have found a fairly large one in this formation, as those generally are nested in the matrix of the Widder Fm above:

I was able to get out twice in one week to Hungry Hollow - the first with Roger, and the second with my missus. A few neat things were found on both outings, but nothing particularly “wow” for the site. I’ll let Roger speak to the first trip and focus here on the second outing. Deb and I concentrated on the south pit as the prospect of biting flies in the north was not exactly how she wanted to spend a Sunday afternoon. We mostly worked two new benches that were made by someone else in the dense coral layer of the Hungry Hollow member. Attempts to extend the bench were a bit messy given the amount of wet overburden, and the rock itself was tough to work with as it was wet and tended to be very crumbly. And the stuff was pretty much dominated by so much coral that it seemed there was more of that than matrix. However, with a bit of persistence you can find other things in that layer. If you went in too far, it became far too dense to break off in anything but shards; if you went too low, it became a kind of mush. The best spot was a thin band just above the mush, but it involved hacking through a lot of coral at the top to access it. No full trilobites were found. I chopped out some matrix that had a full prone Eldredgeops rana, but it was missing its one side. Unlike Penn Dixie, you have to work that much harder at this site for a lot less trilobites beyond a litany of bits and pieces. On the other hand, they are a bit bigger here than at PD. The Favosite corals were impressive in both size and number. We mostly left those behind for other collectors, piling them up so that they would be readily visible. They ranged from muffin-sized to pie-sized. As we were not having great luck, we shifted our collecting to picking up stuff for gifting purposes. There were a few oddities in the mix, and these were picked up from a bit of surface collecting. I think the next time I go, I’ll be heading back to my spot in the north. I’m just waiting for some stuff to weather a bit more before going on the attack with the strata I was able to expose through some bench-work. The goal will be to find three full Greenops that are currently spoken for. I can average one for every four hours of work if I hustle in moving a lot of shale, and if the bugs will kindly leave me be! Depending on how many more trips I make up there this year, I hope to put together some Arkona sample bags for those who don’t have the opportunity to collect here. I seem to have accumulated a lot of the same material from there over the years, and it would be good to spread it around. Anyway, a few pictures of typical rather than remarkable finds: First up is the heartbreaker. Almost two inches long but missing his better half. Next up is a coral Deb wanted to split to see the structure inside: A typical hash plate from the HH member where the corals do NOT dominate for a change.

Hi everyone! Well, Viola and I have officially expanded our fossil-hunting area to include Hungry Hollow!!! We joined in on a field trip organized by the Niagara Peninsula Geological Society this past Saturday, April 29th, and we spent 3 fairly cold and windy hours scouring the South Pit for fossils. Luckily, the pit's rocks are incredibly fossiliferous, so we came away with many specimens. Here are a few pictures of our adventure... Picture #1: Viola in the centre of the pit, looking for little things like brachiopods and bactrites: Picture #2: Viola at the side of the pit holding up her favourite solitary rugose coral: Picture #3: Most of our haul for the day: Picture #4: Some nice hash plates from the pit, mostly containing brachiopods and Tentaculites sp.: Picture #5: SO many rugose corals in the pit!!! Picture #6: A bunch of things, including brachiopods (Mucrospirifer arkonensis and others), crinoid bits, bryozoans, corals, smaller hash plates, and my favourites: pyritized bactrites: Picture #7: A pretty star-shaped encrusting bryozoan (Botryllopora socialis) on the side of a rugose coral: Picture #8: Some organisms on a Mucrospirifer arkonensis - perhaps a couple of gastropods or ammonoids, a bit of encrusting bryozoan, as well as a couple of tiny ostracods (maybe): Picture #9: An Eldredgeops rana cephalon (partial): Picture #10: A trilobite pygidium - it's orange and oh-so-cute!!! I have to thank @Bob for showing Viola and I around the pit, and telling us about the fossils that we were finding - he was an amazing help!!! We had such a great time - hopefully we'll be able to visit again soon!!! Monica (and Viola)

The day began with a morning hunt at my honey hole at "riprap hill," and I was pretty much skunked. I think, after four years, I've picked the place over. There is virtually nothing left for me to split, and given a mild winter, nothing new has weathered out. But I at least was graced by the sight of the living in the form of this majestic animal: image.jpg_1

Not something I find very often. Thinking it might be bryozoan, but unsure. Mid-Devonian, Widder Fm, Hamilton Gp. Any help is appreciated to ID this one so I can properly catalogue it.

Following hot and quick on the heels of the TFF Penn Dixie dig brilliantly organized by @DevonianDigger why not keep up the momentum for some further TFF fossil tourism? For our US friends, nothing is better and more ambassadorial than visiting each other's respective nations under the collective auspices of a shared passion for collecting fossils, with the added bonus that the greenback will stretch more up here. What I propose is a 1-2 day visit to one of our most well-known sites, Hungry Hollow. Composed of both Arkona and Widder formations, two open pits, plenty of river exposures, and more big horn coral and crinoid specimens you could never exhaust even if you hauled them off in trucks, it is a middle Devonian phantasmagoria super-blunderbuss-biota hootenanny with copious specimens for your collecting pleasure. I would be pleased to do some very light curation of the site, but you'll not need much direction as the fossils will be quite literally underfoot. Thrill to the Arkona mudstone/shale with its crinoids and occasional trilobite rollers, pelycopods, sprifiers, bactrites, and goniatite minis! Sift with great zeal through the weathered out Hungry Hollow member to find "phat" rugose corals, occasional trilobites, crinoids, territorially expansive bryozoans, "button corals," and hash plates busier than NYC's 5th Avenue on iPhone release day. Delight to the splitting of Widder shales to encounter the sawtooth-bottomed trilobite Greenops, splendiferous spirifers, nautiloids, and more! This trip is ideal for Devonian era aficionados, invertebrate snobs, and even the lazy collector. But enough of playing the carnival barker. It is time to think of dates. October 15, 22, or 29 seem to work best. No bugs, cooler temps, and (presumably, hopefully) no snow, with a gorgeous backdrop of trees putting on their phyto-pyrotechnic show. Accommodations might best be found in the nearby town of Strathroy. Directions can be provided, but as long as you come by the highway 402, exit 56, turn right on Kerwood, then left on Townsend, right on Sylvan, and then a few minutes to the hollow. For those who want to have a bit of a cottage-y weekend, there is also the Rock Glen conservation area that does rent out cabins, and has a site you can poke around in (but collecting is very limited, and absolutely no prying rocks out of the cliffs!). Anyone up for the dates listed above for October? Roll call, questions, concerns, paeans, and whimsy in this thread!

After such a fantastic weekend at Penn Dixie, it can be a bit of a let-down to return home. However, last Sunday Deb asked if we could go to Hungry Hollow to poke around in the Widder shale. We threw all our gear together and we were there in forty minutes. My goal was to extend some existing benches I was starting at different levels, connecting a few into a kind of multi-level "network." To that question rarely ever posed outside of a gym of "how much can you bench?" I can say "about five hours!" which was how much time it took taking a big bite out of the wall. The temperature was not too hot, and it was a nice and sunny day. Getting to this particular exposure requires some negotiating of fallen trees. Doing the limbo with a backpack full of tools is not as easy as it sounds - if it sounds easy at all! In this first pic, Deb is putting me to work. We managed to dig, pry, and remove about 15 feet on the one level, about 7 feet up at two other bench levels, and anywhere between 1 and 3 feet deep in some parts. There was a lot of slumped overburden to remove, and then some damp, crumbly shale due to the presence of a natural in-ground spring. Getting to the good shale takes both patience and sweat.