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Hello all! It's almost spring, and that means it's time for @Kane and me to alter the geography of New York state once again! Current plans are to start at Penn Dixie on April 26th, then off to the DSR area on Saturday. Sunday is a mystery still, but we're working on it. As always, anyone is welcome to come out and join in the destruction, er... fossil hunting. Last year was a heck of a thing, lots of good stuff was found, and I think everyone had a pretty good time. @Pagurus, @JamesAndTheFossilPeach , @Fossildude19 , @Malcolmt, @Jeffrey P (I'm sure there are more I'm forgetting off-hand.)

Been taking some pictures of fossil finds the last couple weeks and decided to share. These are from our last couple trips.

The Three Kings Stationary epifaunal suspension feeders Heliophyllum is an extinct genus of corals that existed predominantly in the Devonian. Heliophyllum is of the order Rugosa and can be referred to as horn corals. This is what the internet tells you about this well known and popular fossil coral and that's about it. I'm fortunate to have collecting sites here in NY with excellent examples of this very cool fossil. I thought it would be neat for you to see examples of three types of Heliophyllum that I find. Of course the most common species I find is Heliophyllum halli (Edwards and Haime 1851) the solitary rugose. This is The King of Heliophyllum corals and are common to find here in NY at certain localities. Complete or "fresh" specimens are uncommon. A fresh coral would be one that has just weathered from the formation and is undamaged, unworn/tumbled by a stream. The majority of the Heliophyllum halli corals I find are 1-3 inches long with many being between 3-6 inches and a few over 6 inches in length. I find some with perfectly preserved epibionts that help tell a story of that paleoenvironment Heliophyllum halli lived in. The next King of this story is Heliophyllum confluens (Hall 1876) the colonial rugose coral. This species is much rarer then the solitary Heliophyllum halli. Confluens can form large colonies made up of several individual coralites that form a solid coral head. Each colony is different and many fantastic shapes can be found in this species. The third King is Heliophyllum delicatum (Oliver and Sorauf, 1994) a budding colonial coral. Delicatum is only found in the lower Deep Run Shale Member of the Moscow formation. This is my favorite of the three kings. They are the rarest Heliophyllum to find and complete undamaged colonies are near impossible due to their delicate nature. Unlike Heliophyllum confluens, delicatum coralites do not grow together to form a coral head. Instead each coralite individually grows out of a single main corals calyx. This can happen several times within the same colony forming a bouquet of fossil corals. I am not an expert on corals past or present. These are my observations over years of fossil collecting in New York. I hope this helps in your fossil ID or clears up some confusion when talking about these Kings of horn corals. mikey

Hello my name is Owen I am 14 and I live in upstate NY. I am very interested in fossils and have been since a young age. I thought the forum might be a good place for me to learn more about fossils.

Okay so I found this specimen at the Taughannock Falls in Ithaca New York. I found it at the edge of the gorge which consists of shale, composed of slit and clay that fell onto lime mud and hardened into rock. I've done some research and it appears to be a Brittle star trace fossil formed by their arm grazing the sand floor. Although, these Brittle Star fish traces are known as "Pteridichnites biseriatus" and they have only been discovered so far in upper Devonian shales out in western and eastern Virginia. I'm not an expert but to my knowledge the Ithaca geological formation is Devonian and was slowly covered by sand. Is it possible that the Brittle Star fish once roamed in the ancient sea now known as "Taughannock falls" today? Because a research team is trying to find this specimen and they are wondering if anyone has discovered it. Edit: Im referring to the dotted trackway. check this link out for more information. http://www.wvgs.wvnet.edu/www/news/Pteridichnites.htm

I finally bought myself a Eurypterid. I've been looking for years and i didn't want to spend more than $200. I knew i could find a deal eventually, i just needed a little patience, education, a good eye and a bit of luck. I took a gamble on this piece for only $99. From the provided pictures i saw from the "auction site" i saw i could clean up the tail and head for sure and a left arm was possibly there. Sold. A week later i decided to prep it a bit today on Christmas while my son was with his Mother. I uncovered the full tail, then complete left arm......then complete right arm!.........then walking appendages!!!! Holy complete Eurypterid for only $99!!! Lol Now here's why this is posted in the 'questions & answers' subforum. Should i dig into the left side of the head to possibly uncover the other walking appendages??? Being as complete as this is i am assuming they're there. But I'm not sure if digging into this would be worth it.... What do you guys think? Bought as is After prep Walking appendages To fossil hunt it takes a good eye, education and lots of luck. The same goes for buying fossils as well.

Interesting story. https://riverheadlocal.com/2018/12/14/local-teacher-finds-likely-fossilized-shark-tooth-on-baiting-hollow-beach/

Bastedo, J.C., 2006. The Penn Dixie Site - A Classic And Unique Paleontological & Outdoor Education Center. Guidebook for Field Trips, New York State Geological Association 78th Annual Meeting October 6-8, 2006, Field trip B4 (78), p.396. The above guidebook to the Penn Dixie Site is found in the 2006 Guidebook for the New York Geological Association at: http://www.nysga-online.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/2006_bookmarked.pdf http://www.nysga-online.net/guidebooks/1925-1955/ http://www.nysga-online.net/guidebooks/ A revised version of this guidebook is: Bastedo, J.C., 2013. The Penn Dixie Paleontological and Outdoor Education Center: An Internationally Renown Multidisciplinary Educational, Cultural, Recreational and Tourist Attraction. Guidebook for Field Trips, New York State Geological Association 85th Annual Meeting 20 – 22 September 2013, Field trip. pp. 54-67. http://www.nysga-online.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/2013.pdf http://www.nysga-online.net/guidebooks/1925-1955/ http://www.nysga-online.net/guidebooks/ Yours, Paul H.

I love collecting Devonian corals. No two are exactly alike and some like this specimen are much rarer then the most collectible fossil (complete trilobites from any period) from New York. Confluens is a highly sought after coral species. Only found in a very limited area. I find one colony for every 500 solitary Heliophyllum halli and only one colony in ten is complete like this specimen. That's why this piece had to be prepped. Well preserved epibionts can be seen in great detail thanks to the meticulous prep job. Heliophyllum halli confluens (Hall, 1877) Middle Devonian colonial rugose coral 88mm x 71mm x 60mm. Found 9/12/2018 in Livingston County, New York. Found - Mikeymig, Prep - Malcolm T. BEFORE AND AFTER PREP PICTURES

[WARNING: As is my custom, this trip report is exceedingly long, verbosely worded, and copiously illustrated with photos.] (It may be a good idea to find a comfy chair and grab a drink and some popcorn.) Since Tammy's retirement earlier this year, we've been busier than ever. We finally made it to Iceland this summer and saw dozens (if not literally hundreds) of waterfalls in that geologically interesting country. While talking about waterfalls ("fossar" in Icelandic), Tammy had realized that I had somehow not yet seen Niagara Falls. Tammy did not do a lot of vacation traveling when she was younger but had visited Niagara several times in her youth. She decided it was high time I experienced the power of Niagara. It could have been a simple trip--a flight up to Buffalo, a day out on a boat getting drenched at the base of the falls, and home again with little more than a long weekend invested. Somehow though, I have a remarkable knack for constructing enormously detailed travel itineraries--and this trip was no exception. Our anniversary month is October and so with the prospect of some multi-chromatic autumn foliar displays we decided that we'd plan a roadtrip that included Niagara Falls as its underlying motivation. It didn't take me long to realize that there are a lot of great TFF members up in the New York and Ontario area. Additionally, some members from the Virginia/Maryland area suggested meeting up during our last roadtrip through the Carolinas but that trip was already lengthy and involved. Perhaps, I could combine visits with a number of TFF members along the way and do a roadtrip down the Eastern Seaboard? As I started contacting prospective members to get the idea kickstarted, the starting point of our trip changed and we tacked on several extra days to the start of our trip. My brother and his wife had just bought a new house in the north side of Chicago. He decided that since all of the family holidays (Independence Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas) were already claimed by other family members that he would start the tradition of Oktoberfest at their house--first Saturday of October. The itinerary for our trip was still in its early stages so we were easily able to incorporate a trip up to Chicago and link it to the start of our roadtrip. We considered flying from Chicago to Buffalo and picking the rental car there but the cheaper airfares were (not surprisingly) at rather inconvenient times (who wants to check into a hotel in the wee hours of the morning?) but an alternative soon presented itself. Since one of the places we'd hoped to visit along the way was the Devonian Hungry Hollow site in Arkona, ON, we'd have to backtrack west if we started in Buffalo but it would be conveniently along the route if we simply picked up the rental car in Chicago and started the roadtrip from there. This also allowed us the opportunity of visiting the small town of La Porte, Indiana where Tammy lived at one time. Things were falling into place. Of course, that is not to imply that my roadtrips are in any way quickly improvised--I think I spend as much time planning them as I do driving them. Starting the trip in Chicago allowed us both to visit family and work our way through all of our favorite food groups (authentic Chinese, Indian, Middle-eastern, and deep-dish pizza ) before gorging ourselves on lots of tasty German food and Oktoberfest-themed adult beverages at my brother's new place. Finally, we were ready to start rolling some miles (and kilometers) onto our trip odometer and we picked up the rental car and got underway. We planned on making London, ON for our first night and since it turns out it is only a mere 6 or so hours driving from Chicago, we had a bit of time to drive through La Port. It had been nearly 40 years since Tammy lived there and (as expected) much of the area was barely recognizable and not much as she'd remembered it. There were a few landmarks still in place and it didn't take us long to find the house her parents owned in town. The main floor was the Chinese restaurant they owned and the second floor above is where they lived. It's always interesting indulging some nostalgia and visiting places from the past. After a bit of driving around town we picked up the highway and in time crossed the border into Canada at Port Huron. We got to bed late that night but we had one of the longer driving days behind us already. On the road again--and a stop at a childhood home in La Porte.

Hello everyone! I'm sorry for the late reply in posting this, but I was busy on the weekend with a course I'm taking, so it took me a few days to get my act together. On Friday, October 12th, 2018, a bunch of TFF members met up at Penn Dixie Fossil Park in Hamburg, New York in order to do some group fossil-hunting for mid-Devonian trilobites and other critters. The members in the pictures that follow are Malcolm @Malcolmt (he's wearing the beige bucket hat), Greg @Greg.Wood (he's in the striped shirt), Ken @digit (he's in the red jacket), Ken's wife Tammy (she's in the blue jacket), my daughter Viola (she's the only child in the group, so she's easy to spot!), Kane @Kane (he's in the black shirt), Kane's partner Deb (she's in the black jacket), and Mike @ischua (he's in the blue touque and green jacket). Diane @Mediospirifer and her husband were there, but I didn't get any pictures with them - so sorry! - perhaps Ken got a few photos... I encourage the others members of the group to add pictures to this thread if they have any, especially pictures of the finds - thanks! Monica The group hard at work: Malcolm using one of his toys to clear off some dust and debris: Greg doing some heavy lifting: Malcolm splitting some rock: continued...

Been having some heavy wind and storms. Found this on the shore of Lake Ontario in Henderson Harbor, NY. From what I have researched online and previous posts, thinking this is Spyroceras? Decent size too. Very happy with this and found it in a couple pieces so had to glue back together. Can anyone confirm or help to to ID? Rock is mostly Shale and Limestone. Area Ordovician in age from what I have been told.

The Middle Devonian fossils of New York State are well known and have been for over 100 years. I grew up in Livingston County in whats called the Genesee River Valley. The streams that feed this river within the county are rich in Devonian fossils. I collect fossil corals, brachiopods, bryozoans, crinoids&blastoids, pelecypods, gastropods, cephalopods, phyllocarids, trilobites, fish, and wood. I rearranged my favorites in my collection and thought I would share since I feel the display will remain like this for some time. Out of the thousands of Middle Devonian fossils I have collected in 30+ years, these are the ones that mean the most to me. Thanks, Mikeymig

Today was a Pleurodictyum coral day The largest specimen is 116mm x 96mm, the biggest I have ever found!! Finding one of these extra large Pleurodictyums in a day makes the trip. The pictures of the large Pleurodictyum with the smaller size Pleurodictyum displays the huge size difference between a normal sized Pleurodictyum (35mm x 21mm) and my GIANT. Thanks

About a month ago I went to Penn with two fossil buddies and they both found prone greenops. Sadly I did not find one. However both of these greenops were split between the positive and negative and probably were missing some skin as the material was quite flaky. For one of my friends this was his first ever find of a prone greenops. Prone greenops that are nicely laid out are a very rare find in the Windom shale. Most of the ones I have found from there or others that I have prepped for people are fully, partially enrolled or distorted. So to my fossil buddy this was a bit of a special find. We wrapped up the two pieces in tin foil in the field and I agreed to take it with me and prep it for him. Well zoom ahead a month in time and I am going out with him last week to collect and he asks how is his greenops coming, whereby I realize that I have not only not started it ,but in my senility had forgotten I had it and had no clue where it was. Well when I got home it turns out that I had never unpacked the bucket of fossils from that trip and low and behold his fossil was packed just as we had left it. A careful look at both parts under the scope confirmed my opinion that the bug was in pretty rough shape , but a prone greenops, not to mention perhaps his first ever prone warranted we attempt to bring it back to life. Unfortunately I did not take any pics until a ways into the prep but here is what I did to start. 1. Washed the mud off both plates scrubbing with a tooth brush 2. Squared up what would become the fossil plate with the diamond gas saw 3. Cut out as small as possible a square from the top piece of the matrix that contained the top part of the greenops using my 7 inch tile saw with diamond blade 4. On a belt sander using aluminum oxide 120 grit thinned the top piece as much as safely possible to help minimize my prep time later. 5. Using super thin cyanoacrylate glue reattached the top portion to the main slab clamping tightly with a c-clamp. Asusual all prep was done under a zoom scope at 10x to 20x magnification using a Comco abrasion unit and in this case a German Pferd MST 31 scribe exclusively.. Not a lot of scribing was done other than to outline the bug as the skin was not in great shape. Abrasion was pretty much done with a .18 and .10 nozzle using 40 micron previously used dolomite at 30 PSI. Here is the bug after about an our of prepping . I have outlined in red where you can still see the outline of the section that was glued down. A lot of people do not realize that many of the fantastic trilobites you see on the market have actually been glued back together because the splits are often through the bug. I once did a Moroccan trilobite that was in 7 pieces when I received it Here is the bug after another 40 minutes Took some pictures of the prep but frankly they ended up too blurry to use so here is the prep after abrasion is complete and after I have repaired a lot of the parts that broke of in the split. I tend to use a white repair material and always take a picture to let the owner know what has been repaired Here is the bug after coloration applied . The repairs were allowed to cure overnight before coloration and a bit of extra carving to clean up spots.Just waiting for me to do a final cleanup tomorrow after everything has cured a bit more. A long way from being the worlds most pristine or perfect bug but I am relatively pleased that we were able to breath some new life into an ailing bug. Totally prep time about 3 1/2 hours over 4 days. I suspect the owner will be pleased with the result. I have seen people toss bugs in the field that were in this type of shape. For those of you who just need to know the bug is 27mm x 18 mm A slightly different view

It was a pretty good week fossil collecting I managed to make it to Penn Dixie Tuesday and Friday. A few of us Canadians had the place to ourselves both days Tuesday was an interesting day, three of us went Mike, Greg and myself and we all ended up with heat stroke. The temperature topped out at 39 Celsius and then you add in the humidity factor and it was low 40's. Stupid weather for collecting but we all found some very good stuff. Greg found a huge plate that I cut down in the field for him to about 12 inches by 12 inches. It would appear to have 4 complete prone E. rana on it . It currently sits in my basement waiting to be prepped. I do not have a picture as of yet but if I get his permission I will post one. Mike as usual is the greenops whisperer and he found 2 or 3 relatively complete and large greenops at the top of the blocks in the main Penn trilobite layer. I was having a reasonable day I probably had 20 to 30 enrolled or partially enrolled trilobites in the bucket along with a very nice Pleurodictyum americanum (a tabulate coral) . I only find a few of these each year at Penn and always take them home because they prep up quite nicely. I was getting a bit frustrated that both Mike and Greg were finding prone rana's including Greg's spectacular plate, when my fortunes changed with one split of the rock. For those of you that have been collecting with me you know that my style is to spend the morning breaking out huge blocks from the main trilobite layer with big prybars, wedges and chisels and then I split for the whole afternoon. We were working a large bench and had gotten to the state where all the blocks were locked in because of convoluted dome structures and the lack of natural cracks. The blocks that day were coming out about 200 to 300 pounds and about 12 to 18 inches thick. Eventually I would resort to the diamond gas saw and create some weak areas that we could exploit, but back to this story. In frustration with the heat and three guys not being able to get the next block out I just took a chisel and a 5 pound mini sledge and took my frustration out on the rock. Well to my pleasant surprise off popped a piece of matrix that clearly had 2 nice bugs in it. Wow one strike of the sledge and the fortunes of the day are totally changed. I always tell people who are collecting with me to keep at it, your are only one strike of the hammer away from having an amazing day. Unfortunately I did not take any pictures in the field my phone would not let me it said the battery was over heated. Here is ta picture of the shard about 1/2 hour into prepping. What you cant notice in this picture is that there is a 3rd bug buried to the left, I was just able to see the edge of a pygidium from the side. For once I got lucky and it was not just an isolated pygidium. Here it is probably an hour into the prep Prep was pretty standard using a COMCO air abrasion unit at about 30 PSI with 40 micron previously used dolomite, utilizing .025. .015 and .010 tips. Very little scribing was used on the piece because was quite thin and looked to have weak spots that were stabilized with cyanoacrylate and dilute vinac in acetone .Anyway for your viewing pleasure here is a series of pictures of the completed bugs. The plate has no repairs or restoration and the bugs are lying in their original positions. Going into my collection besides the "Perfect Bug" I found earlier this season.

question - How many molts do you think it would take an Eldredgeops to go from 11mm (.43") to 64mm (2.52")?

It is very rare that a crinoid calyx is found a Penn Dixie. I was at Penn Yesterday in the blistering heat 39 Celsius and found a small calyx (23mm * 11 mm). I have a suspicion what this is but don't want to taint others before hearing their opinion. This was found in the top of the E. rana trilobite layer in the Windom shale. I prepped it this morning and the preservation is much better than the 1 other calyx that I have ever found there which I gave to DevonianDigger earlier this year. Here are a series of pictures that try to give the different views. There is the remains of one arm but it is disarticulated from the actual calyx.

This came from Binghamton New York, had it given to me and I’m not really sure if it’s a fossil or just a really oddly shaped rock lol What do you guys think???

My wife and I are on a short trip through south eastern New York State, in the Catskill Mountain region. We had a more adventurous trip in mind but after some recent car trouble we didn't feel quite as adventurous as we did a week ago. We stopped today at a site on Schoharie Creek, a bit south of Gilboa. The heat and humidity kept us from spending more than a half hour at the site today, but we plan on going back tomorrow morning when it will be somewhat cooler. The river tumbled stones were mostly eroded, and I didn't bring my hammer down to the beach crowded with swimmers, but we did make one find worthy of bringing back to the motel. Leila usually makes the best finds when we're just scanning the ground, and she came up with this worn but still attractive horn coral. I love the way it's still attached to the matrix. It almost looks like it's been prepped: The same rock also shows off some nice specimens of what appear to be tube worms. Despite the heat we're enjoying our trip so far, and we're very happy with our motel except for one disturbing problem. Clinging to the door inside our lovely room is a five-foot-long mirror, and I am periodically startled by the strange old man peering at me. What's he doing in my room?! Mike

Thanks to @Darktooth for the helpful instructions! My mom and I spent an hour and a half at the end of the day traipsing around Briggs road. Here are some of our finds. We found parts of 12 trilobites in total and had a blast. I’m wondering if the narrow tubular fossil at the end is a crinoid or something else. Can’t wait to get home and prep some of these. I will be hunting with darktooth tomorrow so it should be lots of fun.

Found this that I believe is a cephalopod today at a devonian spot with imported material, I haven't seen a cephalopod with a bulbed tip before so I am not sure if it's some sort of pathology of a species or it's own species.