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We are having a highly unusual, but welcome, respite from winter here in Minnesota. Temps have been in the 40s and 50s for several days and the snow is slowly departing. Rain is even forecast for tomorrow, but snow is predicted to return next weekend, so a fossil hunt sounded like a wonderful pursuit for a Sunday afternoon. The breezes were light, even balmy for February, green grass blades are starting to poke through and a flight of geese could be seen in the blue skies heading north - a sure sign of an early spring. I headed to one of my favorite hunting spots to see if it was melted off. My very first find was this gorgeous Halysites Coral! These are rare in these parts and this one is the biggest I have ever seen, but it is caught in the rock. :-( The location of this coral is very unusual as I have never found one at this level. Since I couldn't get this one out with the two hammers I had, I proceeded to wander the upper shelf of the Stewartville member of the Galena formation in this area collecting Maclurites, a lovely Fusispera sp., a broken trilo cephlon, and a warn cephalopod among other treasures. Continued...