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I'd heard this location had blastoids, which I've never seen before, so last Friday me and a friend headed down there. We arrived around 930 or so and were immediately stuck by the steepness of the cut "we have to go up this?". We got up near the top where the really productive layer is and immediately started finding blastoids, archimedes, and small horn corals. Most blastoids were in the 1/2" range, I found one archimedes that is around 6" in a slab. Buddy found one blastoid that is probably over 1". The horn corals are generally small. Lots of crinoid bits and pieces also. We took a break for lunch and when we returned we had company. On the west side there was now a man and his son. We hit the east side but it wasn't very productive. Dropped back down and the man & son were gone, but now there was an older lady with 3 young boys. We crossed over and said hi. They were looking for fossils on the very bottom layer, which is hard limestone and not very productive. The boys got very excited when they saw my rock pick and boots. I gave them some of the duplicates of everything I had picked up earlier. I told them the good stuff was up there. Things evolved and me and my buddy wound up taking the two older boys up the road cut to hunt. The boys were very polite, calling us "sir" the whole time. We spent around 30 minutes up high, with them finding several examples on their own. I ended up giving them my bottle of water because they were dried out. I was identifying what they were finding or debunking psuedofossils (lots of those when you're 10/13) the whole time. They eventually asked me if I was a scientist. Eventually grandma yelled up that it was time to go, so we had to get down. I think all the grown-ups were much more concerned about it than the kids. The 13 year old scrabbled down 3 steep 4' shelves in no time. But I slowed down the 10 yeard old, I was afraid he was going to fall. I ended up getting below him and lifting him down each shelf. He actually told me I was really nice. Overall a fun trip, if a bit short. It was made more enjoyable by getting to help stir an interest in science in some youngsters.

Spent a few wonderful hours in Hungry Hollow today! Found numerous interesting specimens in the South Pit, 2 of which are these awesome Blastoids! I never get tired of finding these and I make it my goal to find at least one each time I am there. I did not find one the last time I was there but to make up for that, today I found 2! I searched the UMMP image archive to help me identify them but I can only accurately identify one of them. Devonoblastus whiteavesi (on the left) Can someone help me identify this one?? note the star design on the basal

I went to the North Pit of Hungry Hollow for a few hours on Friday. I spent most of my time digging through the clay piles and walking around the water's edge, scoping out a few recognizable shapes that are by now completely camouflaged by the clay. It's amazing that my eyes even zeroed in on my tiny trilobites but I guess they had waited long enough for me to take them home, and today was the day! One trilobite turned out to be just the head but the other is pretty cute. I met one hiker from Pennsylvania (Greg) that came through the trail along the North side of the river. I introduced myself and we chatted for a few minutes. i always enjoy meeting tourists from different parts of the country. As I headed out, I decided to try the north cliff near the parking area and there I found a very nice Heteroschisma alatum (blastoid). It is about 1/4" wide and 3/8" long. In my pill bottle it went! I hope the photo is clear enough to see the detail. I got called back home or I would have stayed there a few more hours, even though the sun was beating down on me. Even one good find keeps me there longer than I anticipated! Incidentally, I went home with a large bag of garbage that I collected in the pit. I try to take anything out (cans, bottles, plastic bags etc) that I can, each time I go there and it always surprises me that I find more the next time I go. I hope people will be mindful that it's a privilege for us to be able to dig there at the generosity of the land owners. Please take your litter home with you. Detail is a bit clearer in the image above. I took the time to dig a few footholds so I wouldn't take a spill down the hill!

Some great finds this week - 4 Blastoids in one day (Aug 4) and 1 on Aug 10. Found my very first one last week. Now I WANT to find them and that seems to be what my eyes focus in on. My OCD (just kidding) wouldn't allow me to go home until I found one on my Aug 10 fossil hunt. And lo' and behold, I did! Found some very cool assorted trilobite bits - I'm a newbie so all pieces of trilobite are intriguing to me, even bums! I can never pass up Cyrtinas, they're awesome! Found the biggest one so far in my collection... I found LOTS of other interesting things that I have multiples of. Some PERFECT brachiopods, large and small (not pictured). Can't leave them behind when they're that pristine. I'm still learning to identify fossils properly. I had the good fortune of having a fossil buddy along with me who is much more knowledgeable and a real gentleman. We braved the cliffs and got out alive. It sure makes for fun fossil foraging! Can't wait to go out again!!! I need a manicure!

Found this on August 4, in the same general location where I found my first Hyperoblastus Nucriformis blastoid on July 31. I'm not even sure that it is a blastoid. Can someone help ID it for me? It is about half an inch long. It appears to be fragmented on the fat end... I found it near the top of the Arkona formation in the South Pit of Hungry Hollow. Lise

Spent 4 wonderful hours in the North and South Pit of Hungry Hollow with some new friends! Found a wonderful blastoid (my first) - it is 5/8" long! I hope the photo does it justice. I need some practice!! Also found some new brachiopods I did not have before... several pretty crinoid sections, most of a trilobite, some great coral sections and some ammonites. Oh, and a nice button coral! Tim found a beautiful crinoid feather star.. not too sure what it is called. It was at least 3" long and 3" wide... I would include a photo here but it's not mine to publish so hopefully he will publish one! It's always great to spend time hunting fossils with people who appreciate them and the patience it takes to find them! I can't wait to get back out there!

The Golden Drool Bucket is an unofficial Forum award, initiated and presented by me for the most insanely awesome (according to me) things that occasionally grace our boards. It has been let out of the closet for extraordinary finds, superb and comprehensive site collections, magnificent preparation and presentation, whatever floats my leaky boat. The recurring requisite seems to be that I be incapable of getting the subject of the award out of my mind. That rare ringing in my ears has moved me to dust off the D' Bucket, this time for a fossil site; a new and undisclosed location in Erie County, New York. Two examples of specimens from this site accompany the presentation (as if you need to be reminded!). LINK LINK I'm hoping that we will be treated to pictures of more specimens from this incredible site by its discoverer, triarthrus! Markus, in recognition of the overall awesomeness of the fossils from your new location, I offer you the Golden Drool Bucket Award.

Hi all, It's been a while since I've posted but I recently took a trip up to Arkona for one last search before winter sets in. It was a chilly day with light rain in the morning but time flew by thanks to a surprise visit by Jschmo (Darrell). He's a great guy to collect with an very knowledgeable. He pointed out to me where the Microcyclus thedforensis level is in the Arkona Fm. and then I proceeded to find a couple dozen specimens. My find for the day is this crushed, 9.5mm long blastoid: Sorry for the lighting but as it's still raining outside from Sandy I took the pics with my Zorb Microscope camera. I'm not sure who it is so any suggestions are welcomed. -Dave

Found by a friend in the Mojave Desert. I wasn't sure if this was a cystoid, blastoid, or crinoid - or something else? I appreciate the help. -Zach