Search the Community

Because of this forum I found out about the Burpee Museum . The world’s best assistant and general laborer offered to take me there today. Prepare to be spammed with photos.

As the title says, this is my kind of town, excited to have collectors come and find fossils. Most of the country is neutral or negative to this hobby of mine. So it is worth putting the word out supporting a community like this. The Fossil & Prairie Park Preserve is located 1 mile west of Rockford on County Road B47. It is a fun and easy place to collect in the Cerro Gordo Member of the Lime Creek Formation, Devonian. If other cities exist that promote fossil collecting, please show us by adding to this thread.

I found this stem or branch of a fossil found it in Rockford il on a dried river, do you have any ideas on what it could be?

Hi all! I hope this is appropriate for me to ask, but I was just wondering if anyone knew of any roadcuts that are good to hunt at in the Rockford area. I'm planning on visiting the Burpee Musuem today, then hopefully fossil hunt around the area. I've heard talk of roadcuts that are quite rewarding there, but I can't find the exact location of them. If anyone is willing to share please let me know! If not that is ok too Thank you!

found in a roadcut in Rockford. Lived in the Ordovician period. I'm not sure what it is but, it might be spines of a trilobite.

Over the weekend I spent some time at the Burpee Museum of Natural History in Rockford, Illinois. My primary reason for visiting was to check out their local Ordovician fossils, but I was quite surprised by how large and comprehensive the museum was. Lots of great fossils and cool dioramas, definitely worth a visit if you're in the area. Diorama of the Ordovician sea Trilobites Crinoids and an edrioasteroid Cephalopods Bivalves and gastropods Receptaculitids

Found this fossil recently while visiting the Fossil Park near Rockford, Iowa. The fossils here are Devonian in age, and belong to the Hackberry Group/Lime Creek Formation. Have found numerous varieties of brachiopods, horn and colony coral, gastropods, bryozoa, and pieces of crinoid stems, but have never seen anything quite like this. Since it was such a crappy day, I had the whole park to myself except for one guy from Minnesota. Thinking he might be more knowledgeable than myself, I asked for his opinion on what he thought this was. He suggested it was definitely a crinoid calyx. I am not so sure. Thank you all for checking it out.

With today being a chilly (54 degrees) and rainy day, I decided to attend a dual club (ESCONI and the Rock River Valley Gem & Mineral Society) trip to a sand and gravel quarry near the Rockford, Illinois. This pit contains piles of sand and small glacial till cobbles. I have never been to this location and was not sure what to expect, except that fossils could be found there. The rocks at this location that contained fossils are smooth and roundish and though I found fossils, there was nothing great. Between the two clubs, I believe that there were about 12 participants, including our own Lisa @Mud Girl. Walking on these piles reminds me of scree fields- You walk up 3 feet and slide down 2 feet. Here is a pic of Lisa checking out some pretty rocks. She was very happy with her new Pink Hardhat that she bought for this trip. Here are some finds- Receptaculites- When I first saw these next pieces, I thought that they were Bryozoan, but now I am not sure. Tony @Peat Burns and @Herb , what do you think? Or anyone else on the forum please chime in. Here are some other pieces that I found- Here is a pretty piece that Lisa found- Though we both had a lot of fun collecting at the Pit, I do not believe that I would ever collect there again since I is not my type of collecting.

My kids and I made a trip to the Burpee museum in Rockford Illinois twice in the last 2 months. There is a children's museum that is housed in an interconnected building if you are visiting with children. We got in free to the Burpee museum with our Milwaukee Public Museum membership, so worth a check if you are a member of a museum. I try to find museums that are half price or free with our membership for our family to travel to, and the astc pass that comes with most museum memberships makes these memberships more than worth the money. The museum itself is pretty easy to find, with free parking, which is a nice change up from most of the museums we go to. The museum has a juvenile t-rex named Jane, which is what the museum is probably most famous for. I've included a pictures below of it(although it got chopped a little trying to fit in the nameplate). On this same main level there is a room filled with triceratops and related skulls, some real, some casts. There's also the typical set of chronologic fossils that one can find on the main and 2nd floor. The 2nd floor also has a bunch of minerals in a couple display cases. In the lower level, they have a pretty decent assortment of green river fish, as well as a prep lab, which one of the weekends had its window open with a graduate student explaining what he was doing. He was very friendly and we talked for a few about prepping of fossils. The upper level of the museum has a modern history area, along with a kids room that has a bunch of things like puzzles, dress up, etc for kids. The museum itself is probably a tenth of the size of the Field Museum, which is obviously the more famous museum in Illinois. However, if you're in the area and want to kill an hour or 2, it's worth checking out in my opinion.

Any help with this would be appreciated.Found in a quarry in Rockford, Illinois. Ordovician Galena group Thanks