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This past Thursday, I made a trip out to Douglas Point along the Potomac. I enjoy going in warm weather like anyone, but going during the winter has its own merits. Cool, crisp air, fewer people, possibly some more unique finds. I was the only one on the beach for just about the whole morning and afternoon. Although a little chilly, the right gear made it no problem at all. The trail down to the beach is a bit run down. Lots of broken and collapsed trees covering the trail. I found quite a few sand tiger teeth. I only keep the larger ones now that I find and leave the small ones for others. About one foot into the water at low tide, I saw a characteristic cone-shaped object rolling around. Sure enough, it turned out to be a crocodile tooth. I've only found one other one at Matoaka beach, so this is probably my favorite find of this trip. My most curious find was the small, pristine Hemipristis tooth. The snaggletooth shark was not found in the Paleocene. It didn't arrive until later and is commonly found in Miocene exposures. On the ID page, it was mentioned by one astute member that the nearest Miocene exposure is downriver, making it unlikely this tooth washed up from another location. The most likely source is apparently another hunter/collector dropping it either accidentally or intentionally. Hopefully, it was an accident, as "salting" is really unnecessary at this location. Unlike some other locations, it's not hard to find at least small teeth at Purse and Douglas. I only keep the bigger, better finds, and leave other small teeth for others to find. I encourage others to do the same. There's almost nothing worse than going to one of these locations with young kids and they get bored and upset because they can't find anything. But I can't agree with "salting". It ruins the integrity of the site. I also found some shark vertebrae and some possible reptile bone fragments. I also found an interesting concretion or maybe some piece of metal that's rolled around in the river for awhile. Never know what you'll find! Overall, a good trip and a great location, even in winter, if you're up for a little adventurous hike through the snow and fallen trees to reach the beach.

Got out to look on the Potomac yesterday and even with the wind and cold temps still had a decent haul. Tons of sand shark teeth. Just posting a pic of the biggest. But had a few other finds that Id like verification on. What type of shark is the second tooth photo? Im assuming the 3rd photo is croc teeth? Is this a claw? It's razor sharp! No idea what the last 2 pics are so any help would be great. Can't wait for warmer temps since my hands wanted to freeze. Hope everyone has a good spring.

Got to Douglas Point early today and was the first on the beach. Came across a heartbreaking large Otodus root that gave me some hope, soon after I find a large whole one! After a bit more surface collecting I ended up with a few nice sand tigers (one of my largest), three whole Otodus Obliquus and the heartbreaking root, and the icing on the cake two beautiful croc teeth!

In an effort to give a more complete picture of life on planet earth during the age of dinosaurs, we did a post to get suggestions from TFF members about some non-dinosaur material. We got a lot of suggestions and it turned out to be a super informative post. We learned a lot and were able to begin the process of creating a better program for the kids. Just before that post, I had attended an amazing Ichthyosaur prep lab. It was found in Northern California, a few hours from hometown. Northern California is a dead zone for collecting fossils. There are some fossils to be found here but none on any private land that I know of. It was really cool to see the work being done on a Norcal Ichthyosaur and it ignited some interest on my part. i had already decided to get some Ichthyosaur fossils for our program prior to the TFF post. Our first Ichthyosaur fossil arrived today. It is a Brachypterigius extremeus vertebra from the Kimmeridge Clay of Weymouth, UK. In honor of the fossil, I will even go metric. It is nearly 7 cm and in pretty nice condition. I love it and I can not wait to add more. @JohnBrewer has some really nice Ichthy teeth for us so soon we will have a really nice section of our program for an animal I am very excited about. The second picture is of a really cool Mosasaur vertebra from Kansas that was donated by @Ramo . It is very compressed, crushed in the fossil process but that actually adds to the coolness to be honest. I love it and it was a hit with the kids in it's program debut last week. I am still learning about Mosasaurs but they will have a bigger spot in the program next school year for sure. The third picture shows a shark tooth display, croc teeth, a Mosasaur tooth, and a Pterosaur tooth. The kids love talking Pterosuars and we will some more pieces in the future. We kind of have to. They are extremely popular with kids and I want to expand on them in program. The shark teeth are Cretoxyrhina, Ptychodus, Scapanoryhnchus, and a Squalicorax. I will expand this display this summer as we add some Hybodonts to it. The Croc teeth are from HC and came from @Troodon . The Mosasaur tooth was a throw in from a purchase through one of favorite dealers. It did not take us long to add some really cool pieces and I am looking forward to adding more. Next fall we will split the dinosaur program into two presentations and that will allow us to expand on the non-dinosaurs as well as the dinosaurs