Probably my best haul yet!!

[Emthegem]

Hello again! Sorry for the constant posts, but I've been finding a lot of amazing stuff recently!

 

Anyways, as the title says, this was probably one of my best hauls ever for a single day! I managed to find over a dozen different nautiloid chunks and was able to extract toooooons of super well defined and complete brachiopods from a matrix piece!! This will be another 3 part post as i have lots of pictures:

 

Here was the full haul for the day, with ruler for reference (notches in cm).

Here are some alternate angles of the nautiloids. I going to assume/believe they are mostly, if not all Treptoceras Crebriseptum, but if anyone notices any different species I'd be glad to know!

 

some nice crinoid stem segments, a Pholadomorpha Pholadiformis and Ambonychia plate, and another decent nautiloid.

 

[Emthegem]

Closeup of the shell plate.

 

These might be crinoid stems? I'm not sure, if anyone knows let me know please!

 

here is the matrix the brachiopods come from and...

 

...here are the brachiopods!

 

These were some of the nicer and perfectly complete specimen. I believe they might be Zygospira brachiopods, not sure though...

 

Here is a closeup of one of the nicest ones found today!

[Emthegem]

This last post is just of the scenery and some miscellaneous stuff.

 

Very large and complete Treptoceras Crebriseptum nautiloid. I managed to get most of this out, but it took me an ungodly amount of hammering to do so. Definitely not worth it considering how many other things I found today.

 

A pretty nice Ambonychia along with a chunk of nautiloid. Decided to leave this one as it was too big and i didnt want to ruin it by shipping away to reduce weight.

 

Someone must have channeled their inner beaver and decided to built a somewhat effective dam, very cool! I was going to look at some of the rocks used to make the dam, but it was too pretty to destroy so I left them.

 

I also say a very large snake! I think it is a northern water snake, I didn't think i got it in the picture but after looking back I realized I got it scurrying away towards the water! You can see its dark grey head and front part of the body near the rebar around the middle of the picture. I also saw a couple garter snakes as well.

 

All round very good trip and I'm incredibly happy with what I found!!! 

 

 

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Lots of nice stuff. You had a jolly good hunt! 

The brachiopods seem to be Catazyga erratica and a some of them are lovely! 

[Ruger9a]

Nice finds and so many of them - congrats!

[connorp]

Nice finds. I think the second item in your second post are coral cross sections.

[Wrangellian]

5 hours ago, connorp said:

Nice finds. I think the second item in your second post are coral cross sections.

or bryozoan?

[Monica]

Like Eric, I think those cross-sections are bryozoans - they're much more common in the Georgian Bay Formation than corals are.

 

And those brachiopods are lovely, Em - well done!

[FossilNerd]

My first thought on the cross sections is that they are bryozoan as well. 
 

9 hours ago, Emthegem said:

All round very good trip and I'm incredibly happy with what I found!!!

You should be happy with what you found! Great haul!   

 

[FossilDAWG]

Lots and lots of nice stuff!

 

You must have a ton (literally) of Treptoceras by now!  I am going to make a comment, and I want to make it clear it is just my personal opinion and not intended as a criticism of anyone.  However maybe it will generate some discussion.  If I have a site I can return to over and over, the first couple of times I may collect everything I find, but pretty quickly I get to where I pick up only specimens that are better than what I already have, or species I have not previously encountered and are new for my collection.  I always try to remember that other people will come along and perhaps really treasure that fossil that I would just stick in a box along with 100 other not-so-perfect examples of that species.  Of course that is just my opinion and practice, and I know other people view things differently.

 

Don

[FranzBernhard]

Wise words, @FossilDAWG! Thank you.

In the Campanian I collect regularly, I have the problem, that fossils are mostly covered in mud. So, I can only sometimes see in the field, what I have really found. Consequently, I am hauling out quite many suspects with each visit. After cleaning, I decide what to catalog as-is, what to cut and polish and - what to bring back to the site. In this way, usually about the half of my hauls end again at the site I collected them. Hey, its only about half of the mass I carried out, so no problem to bring it back .

Franz Bernhard

[FossilDAWG]

I have that problem too sometimes.  Sites here in the southeastern US are sometimes unconsolidated shell beds, so I will collect 5 gallon buckets of material to wash and sort through.  Of course that means I may end up with many specimens of common species for every one of an infrequent or rare one.  However those come from vast shell beds so a couple of buckets worth leaves a million or more buckets worth for other people.  Also sometimes I can't see enough of a specimen to be sure of its identity, and so I will collect it just in case.  Regarding fossils that I can ID in the field, though, I collect only those that are new for my collection or that are improvements on what I already have.  I have not returned fossils to the site where I collected them, in part because at present I have to drive for several hours to reach any sites at all, but I give excess fossils to young collectors just starting out if I can, or to schools.

 

Don

[Emthegem]

10 hours ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

Lots of nice stuff. You had a jolly good hunt! 

The brachiopods seem to be Catazyga erratica and a some of them are lovely! 

10 hours ago, Ruger9a said:

Nice finds and so many of them - congrats!

8 hours ago, connorp said:

Nice finds. I think the second item in your second post are coral cross sections.

Thanks!

2 hours ago, Monica said:

Like Eric, I think those cross-sections are bryozoans - they're much more common in the Georgian Bay Formation than corals are.

 

And those brachiopods are lovely, Em - well done!

1 hour ago, FossilNerd said:

My first thought on the cross sections is that they are bryozoan as well. 
 

You should be happy with what you found! Great haul!   

 

Thank you! And yeah I've heard that a couple times on this site, I agree.

38 minutes ago, FossilDAWG said:

Lots and lots of nice stuff!

 

You must have a ton (literally) of Treptoceras by now!  I am going to make a comment, and I want to make it clear it is just my personal opinion and not intended as a criticism of anyone.  However maybe it will generate some discussion.  If I have a site I can return to over and over, the first couple of times I may collect everything I find, but pretty quickly I get to where I pick up only specimens that are better than what I already have, or species I have not previously encountered and are new for my collection.  I always try to remember that other people will come along and perhaps really treasure that fossil that I would just stick in a box along with 100 other not-so-perfect examples of that species.  Of course that is just my opinion and practice, and I know other people view things differently.

 

Don

Yes I was thinking about this and I've started to go for the nicer fossils recently only. I also skip over a bunch that I might not appreciate as much as some others. I originally collected so many different chunks before so I could give some to my friends, but most of them think its cool but don't want any haha. But this spot in particular that I go to, seems to have an unlimited supply! Over the last year I've been about 4 times and there just seems to be more and more everytime I go.

 

But I've been looking very hard for new types of fossils and all I seem to find is either crinoid stems, one of 4 types of shells, the occasional bryozoan, and of course, half of all my hauls being nautiloids. It's still very exciting to find nice stuff, but I do sometimes feel like I might be ruining for some beginner colectors that might not have the pick and are looking for chunk left on the beach.
 

All in all I 100% agree with you, but have a hard time drawing the line...

 

[Emthegem]

13 minutes ago, FossilDAWG said:

I have that problem too sometimes.  Sites here in the southeastern US are sometimes unconsolidated shell beds, so I will collect 5 gallon buckets of material to wash and sort through.  Of course that means I may end up with many specimens of common species for every one of an infrequent or rare one.  However those come from vast shell beds so a couple of buckets worth leaves a million or more buckets worth for other people.  Also sometimes I can't see enough of a specimen to be sure of its identity, and so I will collect it just in case.  Regarding fossils that I can ID in the field, though, I collect only those that are new for my collection or that are improvements on what I already have.  I have not returned fossils to the site where I collected them, in part because at present I have to drive for several hours to reach any sites at all, but I give excess fossils to young collectors just starting out if I can, or to schools.

 

Don

That too, I would have a hard time bringing the fossils back to the location, but I don't have a problem at all donating for a greater cause than having them sit in my room. Are there typically a lot of schools that require fossils for their classes, or is it mostly a rarer demand?

[FossilDAWG]

2 minutes ago, Emthegem said:

All in all I 100% agree with you, but have a hard time drawing the line...

 

Oh for sure, I have that problem too, and so I still end up with more than I need even when I try to "high-grade" in the field.

 

Don

[Monica]

You bring up a very good point, Don!

 

Ever since I organized my fossils into a display in my basement, I've been more selective with what I keep.  I often bring stuff home from my local creeks, wash it all, and then decide whether or not I'll keep each piece.  Inevitably, there are items that I decide not to keep for my display or for trades with other forum members, and I simply return them to the location from which I found them.  This is easily done for my local creeks since they're only a 20 minute drive (or less) from my house.  I've actually done the same with Hungry Hollow fossils (especially horn corals - I went a little crazy with collecting them during my first couple of trips there ) - I've taken them home, washed them, and the items I decided not to keep for myself or for trades were simply placed into a bag and returned to the site the next time I visited during an organized "field trip."