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I'm secretly hoping this is what I think it is. I was sure it was a crocodile tooth (my first one!) but I'm less certain of that after a few members mentioned it resembled a detached crown of a porpoise tooth. The matter was discussed but never concluded, so I'd like to see what others have to say. Aside from the pictures, here's what I can provide as help with the ID: The tooth was found at Brownies Beach (Calvert Formation) It is slightly under half an inch in height There appears to be two cutting edges on opposite sides of the tooth While not obvious, it seems to have some vertical ridges It is completely hollow and very light As always, help is much appreciated. Sorry that I couldn't get excellent pictures of this one. It was a bit harder to photograph than most other things. Thanks in advance!

I can confidently say that Brownie's Beach is my favorite site so far. I have only been to a handful of collecting locations, but I can already tell that this park is a gem. There are so many things to love about this site, from gorgeous scenery to great accessibility. I hadn't been hunting for about a month, and when you're new to this type of addictive hobby, that much time can begin to feel like withdrawal. So I can't tell you how excited I was to finally get back out there. As a side note, I'll try to keep my trip reports a little more brief. I've noticed that I'm practically writing an essay each time I post one of these. Anyway, once I saw that the forecast wasn't nasty, like it had been on the weekends for so long, I seized the opportunity and made my way out to the Cliffs once again. I got there very early, just before sunrise. I began collecting after snapping a few shots of the stunning scene over the bay, of course. The tides were not ideal, as it was just after high tide when I arrived, so I had quite a bit of trouble even making it past certain points. I may get some waders at some point, but I love my boots. With the high tides, I found myself transformed into a parkour master at times throughout the day. For the first few hours, I really wasn't finding too much. I was a bit discouraged because I had expected a couple decent finds for being the early bird. Turns out another TFF member had beat me to it. We crossed paths not too long after sunrise and shared the few finds we had so far. I forget his username, but I think his name was Phil. Later, we met again and showed out best finds so far; mine being a beautiful upper Hemi, and his being one of the biggest and most pristine Isurus teeth I've ever seen. It truly must've been nearly 3 inches in slant height. Apparently he had found it where I had already walked. Not to self: slow down the pace a bit. Later in the day, I began spotting some much better finds than earlier. The beach got busy near the entrance, but the Cliff base remained relatively calm. I ran into a good deal of other collectors, including another forum member, named Rob I believe, who was happy to show his finds and pictures of previous hauls. He's found loads of chubs at Brownie's, which gives me hope. I continued collecting along the Cliffs and near the entrance a bit, but the tide never really went out very far before it began to come back in. Because of this, I found myself hugging the cliffs along some stretches. This proved dangerous in multiple ways, one of which I learned the hard way. Twice. Walking right at the base of the Cliffs means you'll sometimes be stepping on extremely slippery, wet, clay-like material. Doing this, I fell two times. The first time, I feel on my bottom. But the second time, I stuck my hand out instinctively to break my fall. You know how there's a layer of broken shells protruding from the cliffs? Yeah, my hand went straight into that. If anything were to ever bite me at the Cliffs, I would think it'd be the sharks, not the shells! Another danger, and something I think we all should take very serious, was the cliffs falling. There were at least two places where there was a large tree hanging on for dear life on an overhang, directly over the beach. You could see the roots of the trees because the cliff under it had eroded and fallen. Very unstable and highly dangerous. The fallen logs along the beach are proof that the can and will fall. Point is, BE CAREFUL ALONG THE BASE OF THE CLIFFS, and keep your distance if you have the choice. I wrapped up the trip a bit early this time around, because the tide was high again and my body was aching from jumping from cliff fall mounds and rocks all day. Honestly, aside from the physical strain, this may have been my best trip yet. At least in terms of finds. It was definitely an enjoyable outing. My finds including a lot of the usual. Of the couple hundred teeth I found, the majority were small Lemons and Requiems. However, I also got many things that are a first for me. A couple large upper Hemis made me jump with joy because as you know they're my favorite. I found a cool broken Cosmopolitodus (Giant White) tooth, and a couple Cows, one that is actually pretty much complete! I found a lot of shark verts, which isn't typical, and my first fragments of dolphin verts too. I also managed my first ever crocodile tooth, which I am ecstatic with! Also got some Threshers and Hammerheads, as well as two complete Angel Shark teeth! Other than that, some decent ray plates and tigers round up my haul for the day. Thanks for reading. I tried to keep it short, but sometimes my enthusiasm just takes over and I want to share every little detail. As always, Hoppe hunting! (p.s. If either of the forum members I met read this, drop a reply so I can see your account names!)

My fellow fossil-hunting partner in crime, @Chomper, and I hit Brownie's Beach around 10 a.m. on President's Day. I saw a bunch of other fossil hunters there, and I understand @WhodamanHD was there as well, though I didn't see him. (I had my nose rather close to the sand most of the time -- next time I go fossil hunting, must remember my glasses!) There was a fossil hunter there, a man wearing a Lowe's bib that he was using to put fossils in. I didn't catch his name, but he was amazingly helpful! I went up to him quite a few times with questions, which he kindly answered, plus he gave me tips on learning to spot fossils. He was especially helpful in showing the difference between bone and rock, and passed on two bone fragments he found. Once I started picking up the characteristics of bone, I started seeing them everywhere. I don't know if he's a member here, but I wanted to give him a salute and a HUGE thank you! All in all, Chomper and I spent about 5 hours there, slowly combing the beach. She's going to post her fossil finds sometime after this weekend. And without further ado, here are my finds! Please, please comment away on anything, especially IDing, as I tend to throw EVERYTHING in my pockets, fossil or no.

Had time to squeeze in a thirty minute hunt (not sure if it was worth the three hour total drive time) at Brownies (miocene) but did find some decent things. Big sand tiger, and two rib sectionss. An partial Ecphora was a welcome sight indeed (wonder why I have better luck with them at Brownies than Matoaka). A lot of sand tigers for some reason, and few physos than normal. Anyway, because of the shortness I just picked up anything strange looking, hence the broken teeth. Also a lot of bone and scute material as per usual. Hopefully someday soon the megs will be outor even

Calling all poop people! This is from Brownie's Beach, so Miocene era. I actually thought it was dog poop at first, and had some choice thoughts about the person who didn't clean up after his/her dog. Then I looked closer, poked it, and discovered it was rock, so into my pocket it went. I find the whole field of coprolites to be really tough with IDing, as no two poops seem to be alike. I do a lot of my IDing by cross-comparing pictures online using my trusty pal Google, and this is one where I'm not finding anything that gives me an "aha!" moment. But it looks like feces, and I'm guessing shark based on where I found it. I'm not licking it because if someone comes back and tells me it's really dog poop then -- ugh! Let's not go there! So help me, experts of the Fossil Forum! You're my only hope!

Got off from school today due to ice and freezing rain. As any normal person would do on a snow day, I decided to go to the beach! It was not rainy when we left, but it was pouring on the hour thirty drive. I got a little scared I’d be rained out but to my surprise it stopped as we got there. The cliffs were wet and dangerous, so I kept my distance near overhangs (don’t want to know what dying would do to my GPA). The rain was kind to me, this beauty of a cow shark (Broadnose sevengill) sat there as if it was waiting for me. It’s missing the last blade but this is my first one. Anyone know how to tell the difference between males and females? tons of Physos (which really need a colloquial name. I propose gnarly shark or grizzly shark. Pygmy tiger sounds less cool...) and the usual chunkosaurus and turtles scutes. Picked up one to find it was purty big, just hiding under the sand. The half shark vert I found is my largest yet, and I got another one as well. I don’t usually post regular hunts but this one was nice so I thought some might like it. The redacted bit is a legume seas I found and mistakenly thought was a whale ear bone

I found this at Bayfront Park/Brownie's Beach in Maryland. This tooth is in decent condition aside from its lack of a root. This might make it more difficult to identify, but you can still identify from the crown alone sometimes. It is almost an inch in length. It has a smooth enamel with no striations, and a defined cutting edge that does not extend all the way up the crown. Rather, it stop about 2/3 of the way to the top on both sides. From a side view, the tooth does curve much like a Sand Tiger. It also has a very large protuberance at the top of the crown where it would meet the root. Although this is a characteristic of lower Hemipristis serra teeth, I do not believe that to be the correct identification because those teeth are conical and lack a cutting edge. Everything is leading me to believe that this is a massive Sand Tiger tooth, but I don't know for certain. I've gotten Sand Tiger teeth bigger than this from Purse State Park, but nothing even close to it at a Miocene exposure. If it had a root, it would be a pretty big chomper. Do Sand Tigers in this area/age get that big? I've included pictures of the tooth from the front, both side views, and the back. I understand if it is difficult to identify because of the missing root (and possibly cusps). I would be thrilled if I turn out to be correct. That would make this tooth my biggest Sand Tiger from a Miocene site. If you can confirm that it is a Sand Tiger, I would love to hear what species it is from if that is at all possible to determine. There are so many species that come from Calvert Cliffs! Thanks for the help.

After a successful second trip to Brownie's Beach a.k.a. Bayfront Park, I thought I'd head out there again. This time I chose to go alone, and I got up extra early to get there as soon as the park opened. I ended up doing just that; it was just becoming visible as I pulled into the gravel lot. I was the first person to arrive, which I've never been before, so waking up early was totally worth it. When it comes to fossil hunting at popular locations, "the early bird gets the worm." Once there was enough visibility outside, I slipped on my boots and made my way down the trail to the beach. As soon as I saw the Bay, I had to drop all my gear and snap a few pictures. The horizon was absolutely stunning. The sun was about to begin rising, and when it did, I got an even prettier spectacle. Brownie's Beach has got to be among the most scenic fossil sites out there. Every time I get to marvel at the beauty of nature. After I got a good look at the beautiful sunrise, I took advantage of arriving early and made my way South towards the cliffs. Sure enough, some of the best finds wash up over night and are simply laying on the surface, waiting for the first hunter to snatch them up. Within the first ten or twenty minutes of searching, I found a lovely Mako. As the sun took its place higher in the sky, more hunters began to show up, and a few eager ones passed me along the cliffs. They were moving really fast to be finding much, but maybe they were just trying to get to the end first. I continued to get some decent finds, and eventually made it all the way to private property sign. Technically, you could legally cross this by walking beneath the high tide line, but it was pretty far from the entrance so I decided it'd be a good point to turn around. The cliffs were very unstable that day, most likely due to the fact that the beach had been frozen over recently and was thawing out. Most of what fell while I was there was just small bits of sediment, but there was one time that really startled me. It wasn't a huge fall, but bigger than most and pretty loud. Luckily, although it was parallel to me, I wasn't close to the cliffs. Anyway, I made my way back towards the entrance and kept looking. As the day went on, more and more people showed up. It was a really nice day for January, so people were out enjoying the weather. I tried sifting for a bit and didn't find too much as usual, but I did grab a few Sand Tigers that for some reason I hadn't found any of while surface hunting. I ran into a lot of fellow hunters, and got to share my finds with them as well as see theirs. There was a woman who was primarily searching in the cliffs, as dangerous as that can be, and managed to find a Mako that looked quite similar to mine. She told me about how she once found a massive whale vert, and showed me pictures. While doing another scan on the cliffs, I found a really nice Hemi with some killer serrations. It was not, however, the legendary Hemipristine. I haven't quite explained this yet, so I'll go ahead and do it now: I am on the lookout for the fabled "Hemipristine", a massive and perfectly intact Hemipristis tooth with big, sharp serrations, and awesome colors. One day I will find it. One day. Shortly after finding my Hemi, I ran into a man and his son and showed it to them. The man then showed me two huge and perfect Hemis, which he apparently had just found ahead of me. I was beyond frustrated, but tried to hide it. I'm sure many of you know that feeling when you were so close to a perfect find but it got snatched up by another hunter. My first time experiencing that. Near the end of the day I met @eannis6 with his water bottle full of teeth. We shared some of our finds; I showed him my strange lower Hemi and he showed me a Cow Shark tooth that looked just like the one I had just found. It was great talking to him, he's a real nice guy! In my last few hours of hunting, I walked beneath the cliffs some more, all the way to the sign. I started heading back as the sun was setting. I passed a few cliff falls that had their bases worn down from the waves, and they looked like mushrooms! I posted a picture below. Something else unusual I saw was a bright blue snake skin. As the tide was coming in, the waves became more violent, and it was washing up more gravel and searching material. Because of this, I got some good finds on the way back to the entrance including a few nice Tigers. Hunters left the park as some other people were just arriving for some pictures at sunset, including a man and his pregnant wife who had a professional photographer. Brownie's really is the place for a nice picture! The sunset wasn't quite visible because the sun rises over the Bay but doesn't set over it, but the colors in the sky were still very pretty. I found some really nice Tigers, which I'll really never get tired of. The Sand Tigers weren't quite as abundant this go around, but I still got a couple sweet ones. This was my best trip for Hemis so far, as I got my biggest upper yet (at least I think it's an upper) and two slightly damaged but really cool lowers that have serrations. I snatched up a few nice Chesapectan and somewhat complete Turritella shells. I have those big molds from Purse, but I'm yet to find actual shells of the same caliber. I found two Makos, both slender and pretty cool. Just as I got my first upper Cow last trip to Brownie's, this time I got my first lower! I got one porpoise/dolphin tooth, and two broken shark verts. Other than that, I found some usual small ones like Lemons and Grays, but also a couple less common ones like some Hammerheads. And finally, I found some ray plates as always, but this time I found what is by far my biggest yet! Lots of finds, and really nice ones too! Apparently, two people found 3 inch Megs that day, some more proof that Brownie's has got them! I'd love to be the one to find one of them eventually. Overall, it was a fantastic trip. Getting to the park early really paid off, and I'll definitely try and do the same in the future. I got to meet a lot of great people, and have a successful day out on the beach! I think I'll plan on heading out down south next, either to try out Westmoreland for the first time or maybe hit Stratford again. I hope you all enjoyed my report and my finds, and as always, Hoppe hunting!

Hey all, I haven't posted in a while, but I've been on two more trips recently. On the day after Christmas, my dad and I headed back to Brownie's Beach for my second (and his first) trip there. Although we were pretty wiped out from Christmas Day, we were determined to arrive early in hope of some good finds. We ended up getting to the park just after sunrise. The sunshine over the horizon of the Bay is always a beautiful sight. We weren't quite the first people there, but we got right to work as soon as we put our bags down. My dad stayed near the entrance and got a chance to try out his new shark tooth sifter on the sand bank. I made my way south, and combed along the base of the cliffs. The tide got really low this time; the lowest I've ever had on a trip. There were a fair amounts of fellow hunters there, and I was able to chat with the ones that I crossed paths with while searching. At one point in the afternoon, I patted my pants pocket to feel for my cell phone, and nothing was there. Of course, my heart skipped a beat and I thought maybe I had put it somewhere else in my vest or something, but it was really gone. I turned around and went back to where I had been hunting just before to see if it had fallen out, and looked for it for about half an hour (wasting precious hunting time!). Eventually I found it dangling from the lanyard attached to the waterproof case I had it in; the branch of a fallen tree in the water had snagged it out of my pocket when I climbed over it. My phone was halfway in the water, but thanks to the case suffered no damage. How's that for a scare? After that episode, I tried sifting for a bit and didn't find all that much. But while I was out on the sand bank, I found my first ever upper Hemi! It was pretty small, but in good condition with serrations intact and all. I was thrilled with this because Hemipristis teeth are my absolute favorite. I also tried my hand at searching in cliff falls. I found a few small teeth in some clay-like falls, along with a complete small shark vert and a really big porpoise/dolphin tooth. For the last few hours, I wasn't finding all that much until in our last hour of hunting, as the sun began to set, I found three really nice teeth: a Mako, a Tiger, and my first ever Cow Shark tooth! On our way out, we got to see what has got to be among the most beautiful sunsets I've ever seen, with all sorts of crazy colors. Overall, it was a fantastic trip that fully restored my faith in Brownie's Beach as a productive fossil site after a not-so-successful first trip. My finds this go around had some amazing variety. I found a handful of really nice Tigers, both Physogaleus and Galeocerdo. Also got a ton of Sand Tigers, many of which had some really killer cusps, which look totally awesome. It was a decent day for Hemis as well; I got a couple small uppers and one decent lower that is quite complete (lower Hemis seem like they're always broken). I of course got a ton of the small common teeth like Lemons and Carcharhinus sp. and some ray plates too. I managed to find four porpoise-like teeth, including the one really big one I talked about earlier. I'm thrilled with the Mako and the Cow, of course, and also found a couple near-complete Chesapectan, and a fish and shark vert. That sums up my trip on the day after Christmas. I've decided to include something new in these trips reports of mine: The Hop 5! (Hoppe Top 5) For each trip report, I will now also post what I personally think are my top 5 finds for the day, with pictures and descriptions included. Be sure to let me know if you agree with the Hop 5 or if you think some other finds deserve a spot instead. Also, please feel free to correct me if you think I may have incorrectly identified one of the finds. Hope you all enjoy! Hoppe hunting!

First off, HAPPY NEW YEAR! Went on a hunt at brownies beach (Miocene, Calvert FM, zone 4?) and it is official, the bay has iced on its shores, that’s the end of winter hunting season I guess. No idea how many epic teeth I must’ve missed because of it. Super cold Because of this finds were limited, top three finds include symphyseal hemi (tiny) and half a shark vert. The third? This Mammal tooth, I’m guessing small rodent? Sorry for bad pictures, I’ll try for better ones tomorrow. Can’t find my ruler, but this things tiny, around 1 cm.

Hello everyone! It is me again and I would like to request a little more help with shark tooth ID. I found this tooth in the Calvert cliffs area. Also, it has rather fine serrations if this helps. Thanks for the help!

After some careful thought and many references to suggestions from TFF members, I decided that my first fossil site would be Bayfront Park aka Brownie’s Beach in Chesapeake Beach, Maryland. I packed up my newly bought expedition gear, sifter and all, and headed out. It was a little over an hour’s drive, which is not bad at all if you ask me. It was the day after Black Friday, so I had thought maybe everyone would just want to stay at home. But given it was a weekend, and families were in town for Thanksgiving and looking for something fun to do, my timing ended up not being ideal. When I showed up, the place was pretty busy, but I started collecting right away. There were quite a few other collectors, and in talking to them I learned that small teeth were a common find here, and in very large quantities. I actually didn’t find anything for a while, due to a number of things. The conditions were mediocre, considering how crowded it was and how the beach was riddled with those pesky autumn leaves that make combing the tide lines a real pain. Also, I was able to be at the park during low tide, but I would hardly call it that, as the water barely retreated at all. Must’ve just been the wind direction. But regardless of the imperfect circumstances, I was able to get a nice handful of small fossilized shark chompers and ray plates. My largest tooth, although still small, was actually the first one I found! A decent Physogaleus contortus I believe. Unlike the other teeth, I didn’t even have to sift for that one. Just found it chilling among some pebbles on the sand bank near the entrance of the park. The second I saw it I went “Ooh! That’s a tiger” and gladly picked up my first ever fossil. It will always hold a special place in my heart, even if it’s not the best find. Aside from my tiger, I found a bunch of Lemons, some real nice baby Sand Tigers, and I think some small Dusky. Again, I'm new so please correct my identifications. I also got my hands on some ray plates, and (although I had no idea what it was when I picked it up) a dolphin/porpoise tooth! I’m not quite sure what the black object next to it is, but I believe it to be something like a snail shell. If anyone has any clue what it is, let me know! Overall, I’d say I had a good first fossil hunting trip at a really beautiful site and I got to meet some nice people who share my passion. I got some cool finds and I can’t wait to hunt some more. I won’t let the small teeth scare me away from Brownie’s; I definitely plan on returning in better conditions to get some bigger, better finds. I actually plan on going in the winter, not too long from now! Hope you enjoy the trip report. Hoppe fossil hunting!

Hello everyone, went to brownies beach last week, was crowded for the beach so finds were limited. Did find a few nice but common teeth and as always a good amount of chunkosaurusesr. Highlight was a chunk of jet. Anyway, I found this tiny tooth (5 millimeters slant height). Pictures taken with microscope. Miocene, Calvert FM (zone 4?), brownies beach. Any ideas?

This little bit ( about an inch) came from Brownies beach, MD (Calvert FM, zone 4?) where bone is extremely common. This one caught my eye, because it reminds me of a Glyptotherium scute I have (from Florida). Not saying that’s what it is, just wondering if it could be a scute of some sort (also I believe Glyptotherium is a Pleistocene animal). I have found terrestrial fossils there before (well two, a possum tooth and some jet). So is it a regular ol’ chunko or a scute of some sort, and if so what? Next to glypto scute

Angel Shark teeth are among my favorite fossil teeth. Pictured are the teeth of Squatina Subserrata and Squatina prima. show your angel shark teeth below!

Hello all! I found a few of these, does anyone know what they are? Thanks!

*WARNING-LOTS OF PICTURES* I took a trip to brownie’s beach today, but unfortunately I could only get there at high tide. This meant my plan of heading south where “the good stuff” Normally is would be treacherous and my normal hunting spot (really I’ve only been there once before, so maybe preferred) was under about two feet of water. So I got as south as I could with any beach above water and got to work. If one uses winnowing in their favor, even spots north of the layer of the zone four that bears the teeth can be productive. This combined with a recent rain, powerful waves to bring fossils north, and lots of concentration and the occasionally yelling when you try to grab a tooth but the wave takes it before you can take it, made it a pretty good day for me. I threw most small teeth onto shore for someone else to find, and towards the end I gave some to some passing kids (though apparently they said they have buckets at home) but I kept some nicer specimens. On my first sitting place I got a nice physogaleus contortus (please feel free to correct wrong IDs) and a fish vert. Then a large keg top floated at me, and you know what they say-when a large piece of wooden debris floats at you, it’s time to move on (what, that’s not a saying). I then coned the beach for areas with lager shell pieces. When it was all said and done I had found one rootless Mako (my first! A desori I believe, 9/10 inch), a very nice white symphyseal hemipristis Serra (8/10 inch), a Ray barb piece, a tooth that reminds me of a porbeagle tooth that I possess, a Ray dermal denticle (although I’m not entirely convinced it’s not a modern thorn), a half of a serrated tooth (maybe meg?), an angel shark tooth (not pictured yet), a small (bird?) bone, another fish centrum (1/4 complete), Ray teeth, chunkosauruses, and various pretty teeth. Not too bad for a second visit.

Yesterday I took my first trip to brownies (which is free this time of year). It was about two o’clock so the tide was rising, so I didn’t take a walk to far south (also I didn’t have any water footwear, so I was bare foot in the murky water that people were pulling horse shoe crabs out of so I wasn’t to keen on stepping on one of their spines). It was pretty good for a first trip with the confines I kept to. The biggest tooth was a half inch hypotodus, and I like this one honey colored lemon. Most were lemons. I found one hemi and a fish tooth (or I think that’s what it is). I also took a few Ray teeth and Ecphora pieces ( saw a 1/4 complete one but It was in the cliff and I’d rather not become a fossil myself) as well as some turritella. Few chunkosauruses as well. A peccary tooth was the last find, I don’t have a picture right now but I’ll get one. The first picture (if it comes out in the order I want it to) is my first Miocene sharks tooth (found by me). Will definitely be back there soon. Jim (AKA the shark tooth guy) sells fossils he finds on route 4, so I stopped by for my second time to buy some fossils and have a conversation (which is very rewarding, I’ve learned a lot in the combined hour I’ve spoke with him). I had a choice between a small but very nice and reasonably priced chub and another fossil. I had to choose the other fossil because it was so cool: A whale vertabra with a shark bite in it! I bought that from him, as well a lightly colored (and orange near the root on the back) posterior meg that has the tip broken off and a stress fracture, must’ve bitten off more than it could chew so to speak (P.S. sharks do not chew). He gifted me three more fossils as well, a (caudal?) cetacean vert and a worm tube. At one point in the conversation I mentioned @eannis6s super small baby meg, and he pulled a super tiny meg out his pocket and said “I found this earlier, add this to your collection”. I off course thanked him profusely, for the fossils and the information. I hope I’ll be seeing Jim again soon as well. So, over all a nice trip! Here’s the pictures, may take a bit to get them all in.

Hello all! I found these on a recent trip to Brownies beach. I am not completely sure but I have an idea of what these may be. Can I have your opinions? Thanks!

Some teeth I found from Brownies that don't look like any other sand tigers I usually find. Many of them are very worn and broken. I'm no expert but my guess is that they are Eocene teeth. Any help is appreciated, thanks. Some of the larger ones

Hello everyone! I found what I believe is a mammal tooth, but I'm not sure from what. Thanks for the help in adavance!

Hello all! I found these fossils today! I was super excited to find my first cow shark tooth. I am new to this hobby and wanted to know what this tooth is. Thanks for the help.

Well, I know we just finished talking about tooth of mine, but I have another I need some help with. It's rather odd looking, but is so unique, hopefully it isn't hard to figure out. Thanks everyone.

Had a phenomenal trip down at Calvert Cliffs on Wednesday with my three month old daughter strapped to my chest. This trip makes up for my failed attempts in March where the sandbars where at an all time high and made it difficult to find anything. The sandbars pushed up from the storms a few months back even helped me to get to some hard to reach locations. Here's some finds and a scouting report for May of the cliffs. Also recovered a nearly perfect decently sized Ecphora gardenae that is still undergoing some preparation work. I'll take a picture of that and post it later along with some very large clams with Ecphora burrow holes. The blood red Mako as found in the sand. I rarely sift as the waves and storms (from the weekend) are constantly exposing the fossil record. Some of the nicer specimens of the day. Two makos on the left, snaggletooth bottom right and top middle. Cow shark with eight blades top right, and a decent sized tiger shark top middle. Recovered more Chesapecten nefrens that I could carry out. This is just a fragment of the shells recovered and layed out neatly in the trunk of my car. Some of the C. nefrens where about 5-6 inches in diameter and impressive to find intact as there were so many large shell fragments. These should make for some beautiful display pieces and gifts once they are cleaned up. Notice the right fins of the C. nefrens are larger than the left fins. This is a noticeable characteristic of this fossil scallop. Approaching the cliffs. The tides where up much higher this time but the waves where very gentle. This photo was taken around 7:00 am. The vegetation overgrowth should help to keep the cliffs from falling. Another shot of the blood red mako. I'll take a closeup of the other Mako later as it's a green-yellow cream color. Somebody found this stranded snapper turtle and carried him 3 miles back up to a freshwater pond. What a nice guy and what a cool looking turtle. A bunch of teeth, turritella, shark vertebrae, ray plates, makos, sand tiger, tiger, requiem, ecphora gardenae, crab claw tip, Megalodon root, and snaggletooth teeth collected by a local collector and myself combined from this trip and a recent trip. Matoaka cabins beach shore. The winds here were very strong and kicked up a lot of dust with some impressive waves. I had to protect my newborn in my chest as I braved the winds. Image 8: Female blue crab that appears to have deposited her eggs and passed away to be washed up on the shore. This is a good sign that the bay is recovering from over-crabbing. Crabs are vital to the bay's overall health as they are scavengers and eat decaying fish and other decomposing critters on the bottom of the bay. Male blue crab. You can tell it's a male by the "state capitol" on the underside. Perhaps his mate was the female that just layed her eggs.

Thinking of trying to get down to Calvert Cliff area Monday if the hurricane goes by, see what gets stirred up/knocked down. I have never been there before so soliciting advice: - Can the cliffs be hunted outside of low tide? The tides for Monday are poorly timed for my travel window with lows at 5:30am and 5:20pm - Any suggestions on where to go that's publicly accessible? I could try Brownies, but looking for alternate locations - Any opinions on sifting vs strolling? - If sifting, are there any rules for screen or shovel size I need to be aware of? Any assistance is appreciated, thanks in advance