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Here is the final installment of my trip report to DSR (last spring with TFF group meet). These are the rest of the specimens including Gastropoda, Cephalopoda, Hyolitha, Phyllocarida, Trilobita, Ectoprocta, Plantae, etc. Scale in mm. A Palaeozygopleura encrusted with the bryozoan Leptotrypella amplectens. A close-up of Leptotrypella amplectens I am not sure what this is. I am assuming gastropod, but unlike the Bellarophontids, this one doesn't seem to have the ridge or furrow down the center. It's also quite large. And the striations look different than any I can find that are typical of the site. @Jeffrey P, @Fossildude19?

Hey everyone, Back again. Couldn’t resist lol. I figure I could offer up some positivity during these uncertain times. Unfortunately it’s getting pretty serious in New York State with C19 cases blowing up. Our family business is under some stresses and I had to make some difficult decisions today so this post is also a little therapy for me. I really love paleontology it allows my mind to wander away from the present! I got back out into the field again this past weekend on Saturday 3/14/20 and Sunday 3/15/20. This time of year I have very little to do other than go hiking/collecting on weekend. Summer activities aren’t here yet and collecting during those hot summer days can be rough. I’m itching to do more exploring for new locations in New York but I’m still drawn to the classics like Cole Hill. On Saturday 3/14/20 figured I’d check out the Middle Devonian Delphi Station Member of the Hamilton group in search of Dipleura. Still dreaming of an articulated specimen but I’m always happy with some nice cephalons. I took a couple field shots. They always look so nice fresh and wet haha. 2 nicer cephalons a nice inflated cephalon Some smaller cephalons Giving the pygidiums some love. One was big!! This looked interesting. Not sure what it is exactly. gastropods and bivalves!! A flattened cephalopod and I think that’s a branching bryozoan. Needs to be glued together. I didn’t get the complete specimen but I still enjoy the location. Does need some work to get into the bedrock. It’s getting tough to find places to work. Mother Nature helps out as time goes. up next is my Sunday 3/15/20 trip to DSR and I did really well!! Finally scored the Greenops I’ve been looking for! stay tuned

Hello awesome people! Im finally out of hibernation . I don’t mind fossil hunting in the winter...as long as the snow isn’t deep. It’s been deep lately lol. So the winter hunts have been non existent pretty much. We finally had a good enough thaw and a warm enough weekend to make collecting possible! I went fossil collecting and fossil prospecting this past Saturday and Sunday (March 7th and 8th 2020). It was great getting back out in the field. what a sight!! The snow didn’t bother me I was happy it was well above freezing for once. South central New York tends to get more snow and it hangs around longer it seems ha. Anyway....I did a little exploring and was able to find more Eldredgeops specimens in a few different spots in the upper quarry. It seems if you want to find Eldredgeops you have to go to the upper parts of the quarry. Personally, I’ve only found 1 Eldredgeops cephalon In the bottom 2-3 meters of the quarry. Doesn’t seems to be any specific layers but more of an increased occurrence in the sequence. It would be interesting to try and track the shift in fauna to see if it correlates to a shift in lithology/environment. It’s a very noticeable thing that goniatites occur in the upper levels of the quarry as well. If I remember correct DSR has been described as having a coarsening up sequence in the literature. I bet extra analysis would support that idea. It’s a fun place to collect and get into deep thought about “how the heck did these fossils get here like this?”. It would be fun to try and collect/catalog data from DSR. It’s been a looong while since I made a detailed stratigraphic section. I always label my fossils (location+date) but maybe I need to start including elevation in the quarry....hmmm Anyway.....onto the AWESOME finds from DSR ........plus 2 small finds from a prospecting spot. scale bar used in specimen photos are all centimeter scale

I had a rough work week last week with Central New York experiencing major flooding. It forced me to work the weekend and kinda ruined my fossil hunting thoughts. I only worked half a day Saturday 11/02/19 so I took advantage of what little sunlight I had. I had to be home before 5 to go to the mall with my wife to return some soccer shoes.......married life lol. With travel time I figured out I could go to DSR and get 70-80 minutes to fossil hunt! I needed this to de-stress so I went for it . I didn’t get much time but I tried to make it count. I knew I wasn’t going to be doing any major digging due to the lack of time. My plan was to try and keep working slabs I pulled from the interval I keep finding phyllocarids. When I got there I saw a large area to the left of where I worked that was ripped up with slabs around. It was the same interval and layers as the productive ones I worked 30 feet away. I wish I recorded the moment because I literally said out loud “I’m going to find a phyllocarid in these discards”.......walked 2 steps and found this in the discard pile.... here is a field shot....I was excited and terrified cause I realized I just found a Rhinocaris columbina phyllocarid with both carapaces and the telson but the telson is on the counterpart!! I thought I was going to have another fish that got away story but then I finally found the other half after an agonizing 40 minutes. Remember I didn’t have long haha. here is a field shot of the other half. Telson top left. I got a call from work and I was literally on the phone working and fossil hunting when I found the other half and silently cheered then continued my phone conversation here is a photo of the raw uncut slabs I collected from the field. I have a saw now so I’m not as concerned with reducing in the field as I used to be. Here are some photos of the finished product. This is a really exciting find because of the amazing association of both carapaces AND the telson. Really an informative specimen. It also came from the same interval I’m finding other phyllocarids. The very delicate disarticulation of the one carapace and slight spread of all the phyllocarid parts makes me very curious about the paleo setting. This is a photo of an artists recreation of a Silurian phyllocarid I found on google. This is not a Rhinocaris columbina but it does have some similarities that will help people visualize what a Rhinocaris may look like. this little something I circled had me wondering if it was possibly associated with this phyllocarid. Almost seems like a little appendage but there is really no way of knowing for sure I suppose. Interesting either way. thanks for reading! Not a whole lot just a single find that I think is really awesome . A quick little DSR trip (11/02/19) with a nice reward! Al

I like DSR. It's peaceful and quite. You get a nice little view. Over all a good spot. I have however been unsuccessful with finding an intact Dipleura! The detail that can been seen on them is fantastic. What amazing little monsters. A quick way to-be driven nuts. I know fossil hunting is a mix of: skill, knowledge, luck and time BUT gosh darn! I will keep trying. This is what I have to show for my effort so far.

I made my first trip out to DSR today and, with some helpful tips from some kind people on the forum, I was able to find the site and know what to look for. Its a nice little spot. Near the road, easy to get to, and quiet. I didn't find anything exceptional, but I thought I would post pics of my favorites for anyone looking up the spot. Thank you to the owners of the site for let everyone come and enjoy it.

I don't put much into small fragments once have learned what they are. They just go into a bucket at my house to use for practicing cleaning fossils or part for later. Maybe some sort of Frank in fossil art piece. Lol I recently went back and looked through this bucket to see if I had some bits from a fossil someone else found and needed the rest of. No luck, but I did come across this guy. I believe it is a dipleura eye. Gosh darn it trilobite fossils are so beautiful in their preservation! I can only imagine that someone found most of him, is missing the eye. A real shame. Please let me know if this is your eye.

Hello forum folks I went to DSR again yesterday 10/05/19 as I had another free day to go collecting. I may not being able to fossil hunt until the end of the month so I had to take advantage! I have been noticing the phyllocarids are coming from certain intervals lower in the quarry...could be nothing....could be somthing....before I assumed I figured I should test it. I knew the exact bedding plane my last Echinocaris came from so I planned on opening a shelf on that bedding plane. My thought was if I could find another phyllocarid on that bedding plane maybe it could mean something....clearly not enough data to make any final assumptions but heck who wouldn’t dig a bedding plane that has produced lol. I was still specifically upset I couldn’t find the missing piece to my phyllocarid from last trip so I did some scanning I initially. I knew it was a waste so I got to work on the bedding plane I desired. before I got started I moved a lot of over burden and got some nice slabs moving. Loving the wedge and sledge combo....so much easier on my body physically. anyway....I found this Echinocaris punctata about 30 minutes into clearing off the shelf. Same bedding plane!!! Only about 1-2 feet from the one I found last trip. Bingo!! I’m going to show a few close ups...this is a really interesting specimen. It appears to be A double carapace folded in half. You can see the margins of the other half and some spots actually fold over slightly that confirm this. It would be great to reveal the other side but I would have a very thin, flattened, fragil specimen. also.....I’m feeling like the boy who cried wolf here but are these mandibles I see on the top left part of the specimen (Seen below)? The margins aren’t as easy to see but it’s clear there are some type or serrations on each part. Here is a close up that does a decent job showing what I’m talking about. They are really non photogenic because of the rust on the shale between the mandibles. It messes with the margins visually. It was still really messy with debris/rubble when I found it so I wasn’t sure where the counterpart was under the rubble. Foolishly it’s on a slab I left behind and I’m going to try and rush out after work to grab it this week. I found this another foot away from the phyllocarid above. When I found this I immediately thought I had a rhinocaris phyllocarid but now I’m not so sure? Unless someone can say for sure. Just doesn’t look right. here is a close up.....it has some lines running across it that make me question what this is. So for now I’m not sure. I found this Rhinocaris sitting out in the open so I have no idea what layer it came from. I’m positive this is a Rhinocaris and it’s very different from the other unknown specimen I found. Here is a reference photo for people who are unsure what phyllocarids are. I really think this specimen is special like the one I found last trip. Also, I do find it interesting that this was on the same bedding plane and very close to the last Echinocaris phyllocarid. More field work will help tell the tale. More to come....my trilobite finds from DSR and I found a layer with all Eldredgeops!!! Really awesome. Stay tuned for part 2

Hey everyone! I finally had a day to go out and enjoy a Saturday fossil hunting with no time limit!! I decided to check 2 middle Devonian locations that have yielded nice dipleura specimens in the past. I’m still looking for “that one” specimen....eventually I’ll find one. I didn’t find the trilobite I tasked myself to find but I did find awesome stuff on Saturday . So here is a little trip report from Saturday September 28, 2019 plus some extra stuff I found earlier in the month. I’ll throw it in at the end. I got up really early so I could get to Cole Hill by sunrise. I had 2 sites in mind from the start. My new house is now only 30 minutes away from CHR which was a nice surprise! Early morning view I’ve had some tough outings at Cole Hill. This rock is so hard!!! I’ve tried clearing overburden just to get to more immovable rock. Anytime I get things moving I find something decent so that was the goal. Find rock that moves!! I ended up finding a spot way off the main outcrop and I got to work. I immediately found a plate with 5 cephalons!! It’s not being very photogenic so I took a picture after making them wet. the right shot shows 4 cephalons stacked in between the white scale bars....the left one shows the 5 hidden cephalon that Is under another cephalon. The bottom piece is just a cheek but could continue I’m not sure. Not very photogenic but rare to find an assemblage like that. I was able to find an area with more weathered rock and I found around a dozen cephalons!!! These are the better and bigger ones. I have a few nice juveniles but they are half covered in rock. I liked these 2 a lot. The left one is very 3D (also came in 10 pieces lol) and the right one has all the cephalon margins intact!! some nicer pygidiums I found. I found 7-10 total in various conditions. I found a lot of associated fauna as well!! The Gastropods came from mostly one bedding plane. The same spot I found the cephalon hash plate these were not far behind littered all over. I also found a bunch of bivalves! Way more than I usually do. I collected more on this trip than I have in the past. The rock kept moving and I kept finding!! After I worked the shelf back far enough I decided I wasn’t going to try and find a new spot. 4 hours of collecting and it was time to go to Deep Springs Rd. Even though I didn’t find exactly what I was after I found lots of amazing specimens compared to past trips . Kept my finder crossed that DSR would be as kind. DSR next post.....

Stop by deep Springs road quarry On my way back from work today. I was only able to be there for a short period of time because it started raining. Normally I really wouldn't care if I was getting rained on but of course with It being in the middle of nowhere and slick shale everywhere. NOPE. Thankfully I found a hotspot very quickly. Over all a good dig! I think I found a dipleura trilobite. Not sure. I saw a post from @Darktooth talk about them. It's in a strange position. All the trilobites I have found at DSR before are very small but other have found ones this big and bigger their.

With fall just around the corner, I was able to get in a hunting trip with my friend Jeffrey P, to the wilds of upstate NY: Specifically, the Deep Springs Road Site, in Earlville. I met up with Jeff at our usual meet up place, and time, (6:00 am at a park and ride near Jeff - about an hour away from my home.) and loaded his gear into my vehicle. Off we went. We enjoyed some very nice scenery, once the morning fog lifted. Hills, streams, farms, and wildlife. We both saw a bald eagle flying by, and some turkeys, chickens, and a deer or two. After a stop for gas and some food in Roscoe, NY, we headed up to Earlville. It was, as usual, a good ride, punctuated with some great conversation, and some interesting music. We arrived at the site around 9:50 AM. The place looked like it had be worked quite a bit, with large areas of rubble from other people's digging. The weather cooperated nicely, - it was beautiful, with temps in the low 70's, and we enjoyed sun and some cool breezes. We got to work quickly, and finds came in drips and drabs. We both made some decent finds, (pics to follow.) Jeff getting ready to start the day. We hunted until about 5 pm. With a 4.5 hour drive ahead, (for me) we got on the road. A brief stop at everyone's favorite Scottish Restaurant, and a quick stop for gas, we finished the day out with more good conversation and music. Traffic was great until after I dropped Jeff off. I spent about 25 minutes in stop and go traffic on I-84 through Southbury. I got home at around 9:45 PM. Jeff is such a great guy to hunt with. Informative, supportive, knowledgeable, and often quite funny. I always enjoy hunting trips with him. Thanks again for another great trip, Jeff. Please feel free to add your finds here, Jeff. Hope you enjoyed the report and finds. Until next time, Kind regards,

how this today at Deep springs road quarry. I didn't make the line marks on it, it came out of the ground like that. It is small, round and dose not look like any of the other fossils I got from the site.

So, finally on the last leg of my trip and headed home tomorrow. Am thinking ahead about trying to prep my DSR Dipleura. Doubt I could but does anyone think it would it be possible to flip the cephalon to straighten this bug out? There is about 3/8 inch of matrix between at tip of cephalon. Otherwise the plan is just to re-glue the pygidum break, cleanup the cephalon and enjoy my beginners luck Dipleura

My wife and I made our 2nd trip up to Deep Springs Rd on Saturday. Nothing spectacular but figured I would share our finds. Also posted a couple items in the identification forum. Grids are quarter inch. Starting with a mortality plate. I like this one because its a nice flat plate and easy display piece with several different shell types represented:

Got up to DSR for the 2nd time yesterday. Didn't have anything spectacular but will post some finds over in the trip forum. (Deep Springs Rd, Devonian, NY) Had 2 items I can't identify. First up is a 3/4 inch long piece: Second is a rather undefined semi-oval blob. I have both dry and wet views:

Hey everyone, Just an update on the fossil I found at DSR in Madison county New York. It was recognized by others on the forum that the fossil I thought was a massive inarticulate brachiopod might be a rhizodont fish scale. I emailed Dr. Daeschler as suggested by Tim (aka fossil dude). Dr. Daeschler was nice enough to respond. I emailed him asking if it was somthing important or may be of interest to anyone. heres a quote of the main meat of his response: Here is another photo of the “most likely” rhizodont fish scale. Like Dr. Daeschler said it can only be named to a family level with just a scale. Now im wondering. Are there more? Maybe a tooth somewhere? How rare is this? What does this mean for the paleoecological setting? How did this one fish scale get here with no others to be found? Now I just hope someone else finds one so we can compare! Even better, the more specimens there are the more scientifically valuable they become. Thanks for reading, Al

Hey everyone! I am about to be on a business trip for the next week so I made sure to try out a new location this past weekend. I went fossil hunting on Saturday and Sunday. Both days! I doubt I’ll get to do a double header like that for a while. Once summer hits I’ll have to figure out a way to fit in all these outdoor activities lol. I went to DSR to play for a little on Saturday morning. I only had until 11:30am to hunt, I had to help wedding planning with the fiancé. I only stayed at DSR for a little and gave myself enough time to go to Briggs rd for a first time hunt. Ive never been to Briggs rd but I’ve seen some trips posted by Dave @Darktooth and the location was very close to DSR. It was a site I was told to visit if I wanted to find Eldredgeops. Greenops are the more common trilobite at DSR and Eldredgeops is the more common trilobite at Briggs rd. I must say...very interesting site. Not very “pretty” as far as roadside quarries go, but she’s a beauty I tell ya haha. I’ll follow with pictures of Saturday’s DSR and Briggs rd finds after the text. I took my nephew out fossil hunting on Sunday cause he’s been pretty aware of my activities lately lol. I took him, my sister and brother in law to DSR and Briggs rd on Sunday. I went to the diamond mine last year with my nephew and we didn’t do so hot so I needed him to take home something this time! We sure my nephew Dylan went home with some nice trilobite material. I gave him a nice folded over greenops from DSR and my brother in law found a killer Eldredgeops at Briggs rd. So Dylan was a happy kid with some nice fossils. Ok time to show pictures. Trying to find a way to streamline this process lol. First Saturday’s take homes

I had an amazing day today hunting with @Darktooth and his two sons. He could not have been more generous with his time and knowledge and my mom and I had an amazing time. There were too many finds to have ready for a post today but here is a quick sneak peak. Tomorrow I’m on to penn Dixie with @DevonianDigger

Hello all, My good friend Jeffrey P and I were finally able to coordinate a day out hunting together in our favorite Devonian spot upstate, as well as one I hadn't visited yet. ( The Briggs Road site!) Both are Moscow Formation, Hamilton group Middle Devonian sites. I haven't been out much this year, and so I decided to take a floating holiday to make it happen. We had missed the opportunity of collecting together when we were both in Western NY during the 4th of July week. This is usually a really fun get together, and while I did OK at our usual haunt, I did miss my frequent collecting partner's company. Anyway, as stated, ... I took a Monday off of work to make the trip to see Jeff last Monday, ... July 16th. Jeff generously offered to drive to the sites. Deep Springs Road is about a 4.5 hour trip for me to make from my home. But with Jeff driving, I only had to drive an hour to meet him at a commuter lot off of I-84 in New York. We met up at 6:00 AM, moved my gear to his car, and off we went. The 3.5 hour drive to the site was full of good conversation and tales of his adventures, and our hopeful find list for this trip. Jeff had brought his I-pad with him, so that I could peruse photos of his recent fossil finds and vacation adventures, (here, and abroad.) during the trip. The weather forecast was calling for a partly cloudy day, with a high of 89. The slight chance of rain that was forecast never materialized. We arrived at the first site between 9:30 and 10:00 AM. Briggs road is a small roadside quarry. Lots of broken rock was around - evidence of other area hunters. We spent about 40 minutes here, Jeff working some slabs, while I did my wander and split thing. I was unlucky enough to flip over a rock and find a yellow-jacket nest. Luckily, I got away without being stung. It definitely agitated the yellow-jackets, though. I picked up a few things, here and there. Mostly 3/4partial Eldredgeops rana, missing the cephalons. Nothing worth photographing. With the Yellow-Jackets guarding the productive layer, we headed over to Deep Springs Road. *************************************************************************************** By this time, the sun was getting higher in the sky, and it was starting to get hot. Deep Springs Road Quarry is like a parking lot. The gray matrix gets hot to the touch, and there is little shade. After about an hour of poking around, and 2 20 OZ bottles of water later, I decided to try to find some shade. I was finding some cool things here and there. I took shelter under a thorn bush that provided a bit of respite from the heat. I pulled rocks over and split them as I sat on a kneeling pad and rested my elbow on my bandana, drinking water now and again. Hydration is important. Jeff was a trooper, and spent most of his time in the full sun, lifting out blocks and splitting them down. Moving about the quarry from spot to spot. He said that he was in "training" for his trip out to Texas later this summer. I broke for lunch, and a cold seltzer refreshed me, and gave me a second wind. I made a number of good finds, and was happy, as this was only my 3rd time out collecting this year. Life has been busy, so it was nice to make up for lost time. Jeff did not do as well, although he found some interesting pieces things. My luck was with me, and a number of my finds were found just by looking at the ground. I'm not a real motivated digger when I don't have to be, and am content finding what others have missed. I like to split things down until there is no chance that a fossil is hiding. Anyway, these techniques worked in my favor this time. The day went on, and shade started to appear. Jeff took a break, and recharged himself with some time in the shade. By nearly 5:00 PM we decided we were done. We packed up our gear and finds, and headed out on the road. I enjoyed the conversation with Jeff, and his eclectic taste in music. Always relaxing and interesting music of all varieties coming from his car stereo/ipod hook-up. Actually made some notes on bands to check out when I had the chance. We arrived at the commuter lot at around 9:25 PM, said our goodbyes, and I headed for home. With traffic and all, I reached home at about 10:40 PM. Thanks @Jeffrey P, for a great day out hunting. ****************************************************************************************** I ended up having quite the day with phyllocarids. I ended up with 10 partialphyllocarids - 2 Echinocaris punctata, and 8 partial Rhinocaris columbina . Only a few trilobites - 1 enrolled Eldredgeops rana, one enrolled Greenops sp., one prone partial Greenops sp., and 3 Dipleura dekayi pygidiums. A host of gastropods, bivalves, and brachiopods found their way home with me as well. First - a grouping of my finds. and some close ups ... Trilobites: Dipleura dekayi pygidiums Eldredgeops rana Greenops sp. Greenops sp. Phyllocarids: Rhinocaris columbina Rhinocaris columbina Echinocaris punctata Gastropods: Paleozygopleura hamiltonae covered with bryozoan. Paleozygopleura hamiltonae "squish-out" with a Glyptotomaria capillaria and another Paleozygopleura hamiltonae. Retispira leda Glyptotomaria capillaria Brachiopods: Rhipidomella penelope Athyris spiriferoides Lingula spatulata Pelecypods: Grammysioidea alveata Cypricardella bellistriata Paleoneilo emarginata & Paleoneilo filosa Pholladella radiata Modiomorpha concentrica, Cypricardella bellistrata, Nuculoidea corbuliformis, +2 unknown Unknown Pteriomorpha bivalve: Leiopteria conradi?? Pseudoaviculapecten sp. a Assorted other finds: First item is unknown,.. possibly a hyolith. Plant fragment, orthocone cephalopod, possibly Spyroceras sp.. Tornoceras uniangulare unknown Thanks for reading.

Hello all. This is a cephalopod that was found by Darktooth Dave on our last outing at Deep Springs Road. (Middle Devonian, Moscow Formation, Hamilton Group, Lebanon, NY. ) He kindly gifted me the slab this was in. While trying to break down the slab, as it was quite huge, (2ft by 2ft, by 3" thick) the darn thing popped out. No other pieces to remove, just the one. This is the first slightly coiled cephalopod of this type that I've seen from there, so I'm struggling with an ID. Not only that, but it has an encrusting example of Hederella filiformis on it. Ultra cool specimen! Thanks again, @Darktooth! I'm guessing this is either a Gomphoceras, or a Cyrtoceras? Anyone have any other thoughts, on genus/species? Thanks for any help, and for looking.