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I am home today with NFL Redzone playing in background, wishing I could be out hunting. So time to look at recent finds. Here is one. This is about the best quality whale Bulla that I find.. The rough and tumble of the Peace River really wears them down. Having spent a lot of time looking at Bullas on the internet this morning, I believe this is a toothed whale. It is 85-90 mm in length and I am interested in what that "bump" upper right is named. Its a connector to the Petrosal. Found this in a research paper, If I am reading this correctly , this Bulla was on the left ear of a sperm whale sometime in the late Miocene. I know that @Boesse skills are required here, but if other TFF members have Baleen or Toothed whale Bullas that also have this bump, please post more examples. Comments and Suggestions always appreciated

I need some help with this little guy I found in the Peace River (FL). I have the darnedest time with ear bones - they all look alike to me. Has anyone seen one like this before? Is it marine or land critter? It seems well mineralized and measures about 30mm x 20mm. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Hi all - it's been a while, since I started on twitter and started teaching much of the itch I scratched through blog writing was taken care of by twitter - but now I've thought about returning to more long-format science communication. The blog format is certainly more informative for most fossil collectors anyway. The new post is just the first in a series on whale and dolphin earbones - the first is an introduction to the basic anatomy and function of earbones, along with basic differences between baleen whale (Mysticeti) and dolphin (Odontoceti) earbones, with comments on their preservation, discovery, and their uses in cetacean taxonomy, cladistics, and studies of diversity. The next post will be the one most anticipated by the majority of collectors - a guide to identifying dolphin periotics by family. The third post will be similar, but directed towards mysticete periotics, and the fourth will cover mysticete and odontocete tympanic bullae. Read it here: https://coastalpaleo.blogspot.com/2022/12/bobbys-guide-to-whale-dolphin-earbones.html Obligatory photo of some periotics we collected out on Charleston harbor on Dec. 1, well worth boots full of freezing cold water:

Made a recent trip to Greens Mill Run and got quite a few nice fossils, particularly fossil bone. Large fragment of a Pliocene baleen whale lower jaw bone, whale rib fragment, baleen whale tympanic bullas, unfused whale vertebral epiphysis, Chesapectens jeffersonius, other Chesapectens spp., clams, etc. All collected in-situ, all from the Yorktown formation. Also quite a few sharks teeth collected from gravel bars. Also one pic, the one with the belemnites lined across the top, is all in-situ Cretaceous stuff. Great trip, digging the stuff up was a nice change from all the gravel sifting haha

With one last check of the river gauges to verify water level, we set the alarm clock for 3:30am and were rolling down my driveway before 4:00am with the truck packed with gear for our first trip out to the Peace River this season. When we left Boca Raton the thermometer in the car registered a balmy 73F (23C) which isn't too bad for the overnight low in the middle of the night. I chose the route up the Florida Turnpike to the aptly named Beeline Hwy which is a laser straight route through Indiantown and into Okeechobee sitting at the northern tip of Lake Okeechobee which it borders. The Mickey D's there is open 24 hours and so makes a good stop for a quick breakfast and caffeine bump at the halfway point of the trip at around 5:30am. This allows us to pull into the parking lot at Canoe Outpost in Arcadia a little before 7:30am in order to fill out paperwork and pay for our canoe rental so we can be on the 8am bus with all our gear headed for the put in at the boat ramp in Brownville Park some 8.5 miles up the river. I had been watching the thermometer in the car drop as I left the relative warmth of the southeast coast of Florida and headed inland. I suspect both the moderating warmth of the Gulf Stream waters just off shore and the denser population with more thermal mass of concrete and asphalt was likely responsible for those balmy temps at the start of the trip as I watched the temperature slowly rachet down as it dropped into the 60's and then bottomed out at 54F (12C) on Route 70 between Okeechobee and Arcadia. The forecast in Arcadia that afternoon was for 79F (26F) so I knew it would turn out to be a pleasant day if I could only survive the morning. There was some confusion rounding up another group going to Brownville that morning and we didn't arrive at the boat ramp till nearly 8:45am--and while I normally would have been anxious to get there as soon as possible to maximize sifting time--I was glad for a little extra time before setting foot in the cool cool river. I chose not to visit the more extensive well-known (and hard-hit) gravel bed just downstream from the boat ramp and instead Tammy and I paddled for a while and enjoyed the wildlife on the river. We were the first canoe off (helps to be organized and experienced) so we had the river to ourselves and didn't see another canoe for about 3 hours. We had quite a variety and abundance of bird life as we paddled down river with only the sound of our paddling and some bird calls breaking the silence of the morning. There were quite the number of Great Blue Herons along the shore, some White Ibis, Tricolor Herons, Little Blue Herons, Great Egrets, Anhingas rounding out the wading birds. We saw quite a number of Belted Kingfishers flying from tree to tree with the swooping flight path that is characteristic. We also had a large number of Osprey that we'd spook from a treetop as we neared and which would fly to a perch further downstream before we caught up to them again forcing them to take to the wing again. We got to see one do some plunge fishing though it came up empty-handed (empty-taloned?) shaking the water from its feathers. The real treat of the morning though were a small flock of Wood Duck (Aix sponsa) which we'd never spotted on the Peace River before. The first time we'd seen this stunning species was while we were diving and fossil hunting in Rainbow Springs last year with Daniel (@calhounensis). As we approached a section of the river that has a number of good size Bald Cypress near the water's edge, you could clearly see the tannin stain indicating the high-water mark from last summer. It's this annual surge of water that causes the erosion and slight changes to the river's course each year as it carves into one bank and deposits sand on the opposite side--all part of recharging the fossil beds each year like an aquatic Easter Bunny hiding treats for us to find. Note that Tammy is the smart one in the family. who brought waders and is wearing a sweatshirt. I wanted to get back to the spot on the river where over the last couple of years I've managed to pull out half a dozen or so large chunks of Mammoth molar (though not a whole tooth from this location--yet). When we got to our spot we broke out the shovel and sifter and I stepped out of the canoe into the cold water of the Peace. I learned later from one of the staff working at Canoe Outpost that the river is currently running around 62F (17C) and it felt it! The area that I'd been lucky enough to harvest all the mammoth molar chunks is relatively close to the edge of the river. Unfortunately, with the sun rising low on the horizon this time of the year, it hardly breaks out of the treeline and that side of the river was in shade throughout the morning. Shortly after we started probing for gravel and shoveling and sifting, a little breeze came up and sent ripples down the river's surface and simultaneously shivers down my spine. This would have been a welcome refreshing breeze on a warmer day but it was too much evaporative cooling for me on that morning. Within an hour my pruny fingers were somewhere between numb and tingling. We hadn't stumbled upon any Mammoth dentition by this point (not even the thin fragmented layers that are distinctive enough discern even from tiny pieces). I decided to move out closer to the center of the river where I could at least get some sun on my back and warm myself a bit more. We like this spot as it has very coarse gravel--in fact, some of the bottom is cobbled with fairly large chunks of matrix from orange to softball to bowling ball size. It sometimes makes it a bit difficult to get a shovel down into and often results in me bringing huge chunks of the bottom up in my shovel which are tossed off to the side creating small depth charge splashes as they sploosh into the chilly water (often returning an unwanted cold shower). Large gravel (or in this case matrix pieces) usually equates to larger finds so I chose to use my sifting screen with the 1/2" mesh rather than the one fitted with the finer 1/4" mesh. This means I can usually toss in several scoops without overloading the sifting screen as the vast majority slips down through the screen. Virtually all of the smaller shark teeth (and other fossils) pass right through the screen and back onto the bottom. We only waylaid three smaller shark teeth that were just too big to fit between the mesh--a nice large Lemon Shark and two good size Carcharhinus sp. teeth. We did find quite a number of makos and smaller megs (the maximum somewhere between 2.5-3 inches). Most were either fraglodons with the tips busted off or were river worn to the point where they didn't need to be added to the small bowl of "keepers" I have from the Peace. We saved these teeth and several other finds to distribute to kids in the canoes than continued to pass us throughout the day. This area is also rich with dugong rib bones. They are abundant enough that I'm sure it would take me little time to completely fill a 5-gallon bucket (possibly two). One day I just may bring buckets to test out this challenge. Nicer specimens were also saved and passed out with the explanations of what they were (most had never heard of dugongs). Hopefully, some may be motivated to do an internet search and maybe spark an interest in fossils. I probably gave away 90% of our fossils but I hope it possibly makes a difference in one of these kid's lives and allows them to realize there is a world beyond the edges of their devices. The most unusual thing we dug up all day was probably the recent mandible with teeth. It would have been a trip-maker if it were fossilized but was only a novelty due to its modernity. From the look of the molars I believe this is a probably porcine (likely Wild Boar). I believe I've seen pig teeth come up on this forum before and to me the recently erupted ones with little wear on their occlusal surface remind me of the lumpy shape of popped popcorn. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong--wouldn't be the first (or last) time. There was a group of two families with lots of kiddies just a short walk down the river so I took this jaw bone to them figuring that they'd enjoy such an oddity--I was right (they also got a few megs).

My wife Tammy and I made it out for one last trip to the Peace River for this season. I expect I'll be busy and won't have a chance to get back to the river before the summer rains usher in another rainy season with raging river levels depositing a new layer of gravel (and erasing any of the pot holes and spoil piles that us fossil hunters have worked so hard at this season--like shaking a giant Etch a Sketch). We experimented with a 1/2" mesh retrofit on one of our sifting screens since John (Sasha) and Jeff (jcbshark) have used them to great end. The spot we focused on in the Peace River was an area of large chunky gravel with bowling ball size boulders of matrix mixed in. This gravel bed has never turned up much in the way of smaller finds or tiny shark teeth so we figured we'd not be missing much with the wider screen mesh. As Jeff had commented on, you sure can shovel a lot of material through the wider mesh before filling a screen. I went from an average of 3 shovels full per screen (with the 1/4" mesh) to 6-10 shovels with the more coarse mesh. As there is a lot less tiny gravel to sort through in the sifter it takes very little time to parse through what the screen has kept from passing through. It was definitely a quick way to zip through a large amount of gravel. The very first screen produced a nice Equus lower molar which was a nice way to start the day. Though this site has produced some interesting finds in the past (a couple of 3 lb. mammoth tooth chunks, large makos, glyptodont rosettes, and even a gold wedding ring and tie tack--there must be a story there) this trip didn't produce much in the way of "wow" moments. The water was over 2' lower than when we tried this site just two weeks ago so it was much easier to dig and even visually locate the chunky gravel areas. Since I'd found large chunks of mammoth tooth there in the past it seemed necessary to reach down and inspect every large chunk that wouldn't balance on the shovel on its way to the sifter. Sadly we only had large chunks of matrix and no heart-stopping moment when a large, intact mammoth tooth reveals itself from the tannic waters--maybe next season. Though we hunted alone this weekend without the company of any of the South Florida TFF members, we did have a companion of sorts. While standing in waist deep water about 20' from the shore where our canoe was parked I looked out while chucking larger pieces of matrix away from our digging area. Just after a shoebox size chunk of rock had left my hands I noticed it was heading in the vicinity of a young gator which had come to the surface for air (and likely to see what all the commotion was about). Though the rock created a great depth charge of a splash not 3 feet from the gator's head it didn't spook but simply slowly descended back into the tea colored water. Had this been a 13' adult I'd have given it as wide a berth as possible as I cautiously slinked back to my canoe but as this was a juvenile probably less than 4' I chose to keep my eye on him (or her?) while we continued to dig and sift. We continued to volley shots in the general direction in an effort to make our nearby surroundings a less appealing for this living fossil. Undaunted, Al (as we took to calling him) stayed with us for several hours periodically surfacing near the shore for a breath of air and to keep an eye on his unruly new neighbors. Luckily, the only gator tooth I encountered was a black one that surfaced in my sifting screen. We've seen gators occasionally on the Peace but this is the only time we've been within 10' of one while in the water. We dug through a lot of the coarse gravel but it didn't deliver much other than dugong rib bones. They are exceedingly common at this site with every shovel full of material bringing up 2-3 fragments. I wondered if it was possible to dig a shovel full of gravel and not turn up at least one dugong frag and I think the only time I did was when I ventured off the gravel deposit into more sandy areas. We found a few whale (dolphin) ear bones (tympanic bullas) though most were pretty beat-up and fragmented. I had to laugh when I got 3 of these in a single screen of gravel--we ended up with 9 in total. There was a lot of small fragments of mammoth and mastodon (or gomphothere) teeth and even few small pieces of tusk ivory that ended up in our sifting screen but the largest piece of what might be proboscidean was a large rib? fragment. It's a bit big and not the right shape for dugong and besides it has a decidedly apparent marrow space. We had a nicely complete fish (shark?) vert that was just a little too big to fall through the sifting screen and so came home with us. The other vert we found was not fossilized but recent and I assumed might be gator (though I have to look through other possibilities like deer or pig as well). We were hoping for some nice glyptodont rosettes but they eluded us this time. Instead we had several armor plates from Holmesina (mostly broken pieces but one complete and in nice shape). In addition to many frags we ended up with three nice horse lower molars including the smallest one we've ever found (just over 1/2" across). I'll have to consult some books to see if this is just a juvenile Equus or a smaller species (I suspect the former). A couple of bison molar frags rounded out the mammal teeth for the trip. Turtle shell was relatively absent this time with only a few nuchal plates from the carapace and another "peace sign" gular-humeral plate from the plastron. The nearly 2" long leg spur (osteoderm) from a large land tortoise was the trip maker for me (I'm oddly quite fond of these things). Though we had dozens of meg frags (mostly nearly unidentifiable root fragments) we did find a real shamer--what would have been about a 3.5" meg split right down the center. Rather than caulk it to a hand mirror to make it "complete" this one will end up in my next goodie bag to be gifted to some unsuspecting friend's kid. The only complete meg we found was a little 2" one that oddly didn't come from the site with coarse gravel but from an area with finer gravel. After our allotted time searching for big finds at the coarse gravel site we continued down river to an area that I know has a great abundance of fine (pea-size) gravel. in the past we've found areas of this gravel bed where 3 shovels into a sifter have revealed up to 2 dozen smaller shark teeth--great fun when you have a group of friends with kids. We had a competition to see who could get the most teeth in a screen and I think the winner was something like 25 or 26. I wanted to stop at this location (coded FINE) in my handheld GPS because I figured this would be a good place to harvest some micro matrix. After seeing all of the fun that various TFF members have had picking though the fine gravel that Jeff (jcbshark) and John (Sasha) had collected I though it might be interesting to cache some of this material to play with during the off season (when the river it too high to hunt). I brought along one of my 1/4" sifters and had a piece of window screen material (roughly 1/16" openings) to set inside my new 1/2" mesh sifting screen. By double stacking the two screens I could sort out some micro matrix. The 1/4" mesh on top kept out any larger gravel while the 1/16" mesh fitted into the bottom sifter let the sand and tiny gravel pass through. This left micro matrix with a grain size roughly 1/16" to 1/4" in diameter sitting in the lower sifter. My wife took a turn with the shovel loading up the stacked screens and she hunted for any tiny teeth trapped by the upper sifter while I worked the finer gravel in the bottom screen till the sand had made it through the fine mesh. I brought along a 5 gallon bucket to dump the micro matrix into and soon had the bucket nearly filled. You can imagine that this bucket ended up rather heavy and I got the brainy idea to put the sifting screen on top of the bucket and invert it on the sandy shore so the trapped water could drain away reducing what weight I could. After it had drained well I flipped the bucket upright and scooped back into the bucket the gravel that had spilled out into the sifter. While doing this the bucket regained most of its weight and unfortunately the sandy sloped shoreline where I was working gave way as the titled bucket approached full fill tipping a good portion of its contents back into the water at the edge of the shore. After some choice words I re-scooped a combination of micro matrix, sand, and water back into the bucket and loaded it into the canoe. I'd deal with cleaning-up the matrix at home. The matrix is now spread out on a plastic tarp sunning in my driveway. Once it is quite dry I figure it will sift more easily. I'll give it another pass or to over some more window screen mesh and then store it in a dry place to play with later. I'll be bringing some samples of this mesh to Chicago next week when I head up there to do a little more fossil hunting north of the Mason-Dixon line. Though I didn't collect as much micro matrix as I had intended (next time remember to take more buckets) I may make some more care packs of Peace River micro matrix available on the Forum if there is still interest. Cheers. -Ken