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Hello everyone, I am making a shadow box for my office; before I start doing the final groupings by species and attaching said groupings to the shadow box, I could really use some help. I have made my best educated guesses (using Jayson’s website for references), but since I am a novice, I know I’ve made several mistakes. Will you you please take a look at the attached pictures and let me know if I guessed correctly? If not, will you please let me know the correct answer?

Still on the hunt before classes begin again next week. This weekend the boys and I ventured 5 1/2 hours north to the head of the Chesapeake Bay. So far... I should have gone back to Folly Beach! Lol. Some shells, neat iron formations, but no teeth yet. Brought the sifter this time but Calvert Cliffs isn’t the place for my old knees to carry much on a hike. Many people in competetion for fossil teeth. There were more people hunting on 180’ of beach 30’ wide than all of Folly Beach last weekend. Water is very cold and it is a tidal influenced area.

I found two interesting teeth on Sunday at Flag Ponds.Not sure if there is enough there for identifications, but thought I would share anyway since I haven't posted in awhile. The smaller tooth looks curved and asymmetrical, is that indicative of a back jaw position, or something else? Thanks for looking.

I have been at a conference for my work in Baltimore all week. My conference ends tomorrow and then I plan to go get a rental car and head south to the Chesapeake Bay area to do some hunting or wherever else I can find to hunt. Even just getting out to hike in a nice quiet place would be nice if tides are too high to hunt the beaches. I will be leaving Baltimore around noon and returning home on Sunday noonish I think. I can't remember my departure time, but it is in the afternoon. I have not worked out any of the details other than rental car and a possible low budget place to stay. The most affordable I found was in Lexington Park area. I have not figured out tides and all that. I am a tad nervous. As a single woman in Texas I think I can handle myself out in the wild. I am not sure about the Chesapeake Bay area. It does not seem so remote. I am not sure if there are areas that are unsafe for a woman to be alone in. I have never hunted this type of environment before. When I go hunting in Texas I know what to watch out for. I usually go to very remote places where I rarely ever see anyone. Rattlesnakes, water moccasins and wild hogs are my main concerns when hunting in Texas. I know what to take and what to wear. So, I would appreciate any input with regards to what to look out for, how to be safe, where to find tide info and what not to do kind of stuff. Comments appreciated.

Since I am brand new to Miocene fossils, I’m hoping the Fossil Forum community can help me identify the following fossils I found at Flag Ponds over Labor Day weekend. Group 1 - Cetacean or impressions left by invertebrates?

Hi everyone, Newbie fossil hunter here. I visited Flag Ponds Nature Park yesterday (June 10, 2018) and came up with some finds that I am having a difficult time identifying. The park is on the west side of the Chesapeake bay near cliff formations from the Miocene epoch. All of these fossils were found in/along the water. Most interesting to me is a small pointed black fossil with deep crevices. I've never come across any like it and I haven't been able to find anything at all online to even give me a hint as to what it may be. The other bone fragments I found seem to come from flat bones, which suggest to me that they might be part of ribs or jaws. My best guess for the larger chunky bone in my pictures is that it might be part of an epiphysis, perhaps also from a rib. Another little find was a portion of something that looks like a tooth, but perhaps not a shark tooth. I also picked up a portion of what would have been a nice sized shark tooth, but I'm just not sure what kind of shark. Finally, I also found a couple of small white disks and am not sure what those are. I wanted to share these finds with you to see what you think they are! More detailed pictures to follow. Any help is much appreciated!

I decided to work on my lighting setup & I think I am getting closer. These are some of my favorite teeth from the past year. The one on the right end is not leaning against the backdrop, it is actually 3-dimensional, almost as if it has a built in kickstand or tripod. I don't know which species it belongs too. The caramel colored one is my absolute favorite so far, I was shocked to find that one last fall on the beach, just barely on the edge of the waves..

Hi everyone, I went to Flag Ponds in Calvert County yesterday & found this interesting needle-like tooth. It is 2.5 cm long. It has a channel up one side that is just barely wide enough to get the edge of my fingernail into. Any idea what it is? I do love finding the oddball fossils! Thanks. Update, I uploaded a different photo. You would never know that this is sitting directly under a 60 watt bulb. Imagine a "crying emoji" sitting at the end of this sentence!!

Hi all, Got an odd little stumper at Flag Ponds today -nothing important, but it's kind of striking. It almost looks like styrofoam but definitely feels like fossil and looks organic when looked at close up. I'm thinking maybe a cross section of coral? Here it is front and back. Thanks! Jody

I forgot that I found this piece of fossilized bone at Flag Ponds on my last trip. I don't know if there is enough to get an id from. Any ideas?

I finally have time to post a report from last weekends trip. My wife wanted to take the boys to Washington DC to see the monuments and visit the museum. She said we could go fossil hunting for a day. So I chose Purse state park since I have only been there once. We stayed in Waldorf, arriving late friday night. Saturday morning we headed to the Potomac. We ended up at Douglas point. I didn't know at the time that it was a mile and a half to get to the beach! My wife and kids were crabbing when they realized what a walk it was. Once we got to the beach everyone was happy. I really liked it there and immediately started searching. I found a couple small teeth right away. My boys just wanted to swim for awhile but soon joined in on the hunt. A guy walked by we spoke for a minute and then he left. A couple seconds later he yells over to me and points out a big black snake climbing vertically up the cliff! It was a very cool sight! The gentleman left and we got back to the hunt. My wife finally joined us and we all were finding teeth. And there were tons of rayplates. After awhile the same gentleman came back and asked how we were doing. Then he pulls out the biggest Otodus I have ever seen. He said he just pulled it out of a debris pile. The tooth was so huge. Extremely thick blade and root. It was missing one cusp and part of the root, but still impressive. Of course that got the blood flowing. So we all got hunting, but no huge teeth for us. The highlight for me was finding my first croc tooth. Though not big it is complete and is not waterworn. Its between 3/8-1/2 inch. Then I found a bigger one but this was very beatup. We stayed for about three hours and then we all got hungry and decided to get lunch. When I got back to the car I looked down and noticed a tick on my calf! Luckily I noticed it before it bit me, so it was easy to remove! The next day we drove to DC and saw the sites. The highlight for me was the Museum of Natural History. Mainly because it has all the Gem and fossils. It even has a super nice Dipleura from New York! After we got back to the hotel, My wife said that on monday she wanted to do something before we headed home so I suggested going to Flag Ponds Nature Park. We didn't find a lot of teeth but I did find tons of coral. The boys were content with swimming until Devin got stung by a jellyfish! At that point it was time to go. All in all it was a very nice time to spend with family. Though short, it was sweet. I wish I would have taken more pics, but I always get too caught up in the moment. I hope you enjoy the ones I did take.

I decided to just make one post about my December finds. After going through the pictures I can see now that it seems easier to post after each hunt.

Found this at Flag Ponds Nature Park in Calvert County, MD. It had washed up to the shallows from who knows where. I assume you all know that area is predominantly miocene marine fossils, but some occasional land mammal and bird material. Our guess was maybe cetacean wrist bone, but can't find any matches on whale skeleton diagrams online. Any clues?