Late season outing

[jpc]

Hello all- 

With a five day weekend and some pretty good weather (for late November), and the honey-dos done it was time for a day in the field.  I went to a new part of a ranch that I have only been to several times.  Previous finds include an ichthyosaur snout and two plesiosaur verts.  The goal was Jurassic ichthyosaur bones.  But this place has a series of fossiliferous horizons to explore.  Other targets included articulated Jurassic crinoids, pterodactyl tracks, and small dinosaur bones.  I say small bones because it was a mile and a half (2.5 km) walk to the bottom of the hill with Morrison Formation, home to Jurassic dinos.  And there is no way I was going to haul out anything like a sauropod femur today.  I don't even want to find one.  The same dilemma can be said of any accumulations of ichthyosaur bones I might find, but I was willing to do a bit more hauling for ichthyosaurs.  

 

It was about an hour and half drive.  I got there at about 11:30 (lazy breakfast) so I had about 3 hours in the field.  Without boring you all with details, I got skunked in the crinoids, pterosaur tracks and ichthyosaurs.  But the dinosaurs showed up.  

 

Here are a few bones.

What, you say you can't see any bones?  They are  in the dark spot in the base of the cliff.  Here is a better view. 

But these are cross-sectioned (=half missing) and at the base of a boulder.  They will stay there for another long time.  But in the foreground are a few blocks of sandstone from a recent cliff fall.  This looked like a good place to search.  And it worked.  Here is the find of the day.  A nice theropod tooth.  Allosaurus is the common theropod in the Morrison but is is twice the size of an Allo tooth.  I'll have to look it up after I get it prepped.  

 

 

I thought that was the find of the day, but near the other end of the cliff fall... I pulled a basketball sized rock out of the rubble because I could see bone bits in it.  Got a bunch of chunkosaurs and an interesting vertebra... and this little jaw.  I thought it was crocodile until I saw the teeth.  It is a little ornithopod.  

When the rock split, it split right along the tops of those teeth, but the rightmost tooth is complete and there are likely more in the rock.  I did keep as many of the wee bits of teeth as possible.  Wish me luck in matching them to their homes.  

 

I did find a more regular sized bone, probably a vertebra, but I left it for now... see comments above about the mile and a half walk.  But I also found a road that will get me much closer, so I am going back tomorrow (with the landowner's blessing) to get it and see what else this limited available layer has to offer.  A large tooth and a jaw in one place in a couple hours is really quite good for any dinosaur site.  

 

The birdwatching tally for today was pretty low but included a quality sighting... one bald eagle, a golden eagle, three ravens, four magpies, three horned larks and two of these guys... Gray-capped rosy finch.  These guys come down from the mountains in the winter and can be seen in the plains of Wyoming, but they are not common, unless you run into a flock of 200, or have bird feeders out in the plains.

[Tidgy's Dad]

Wow, a couple of nice finds there.

Thanks for the report. 

[RuMert]

Interesting jaw

[Fossildude19]

Great report, JP.

Thanks for posting this.

[RJB]

 Thanks for the report JP.  Made for a nice morning read with my coffee. 

 

RB

[JamieLynn]

oh that jaw is superb

 

[Ruger9a]

Nice jaw and nice report, thanks for sharing.

[digit]

Very nice! Looking forward to reading subsequent chapters on this area now that you have closer access.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Nanosaurus]

Very cool!! Exciting to see the little ornithopod!

[Nimravis]

Nice finds- congrats.

 

If you ever get a chance, can you post a pic or two of the pterosaur tracks? Trackways are my new fossil of choice.

[PaleoNoel]

Awesome finds! I've always wanted to hunt in the Morison. 

[jpc]

1 hour ago, PaleoNoel said:

Awesome finds! I've always wanted to hunt in the Morison. 

Me too, but it is much harder to get access around here than the Lance.  I have collected a ton of Morrison for work, but these are among my first for fun.  

 

Thank for the comments, everyone.  I hope to get the little jaw prepped by Xmas.

[jpc]

20 hours ago, Nimravis said:

Nice finds- congrats.

 

If you ever get a chance, can you post a pic or two of the pterosaur tracks? Trackways are my new fossil of choice.

Here is a set that we found for work that actually made the news a few months ago. 

https://www.livescience.com/pterosaurs-walked-in-rain.html

 

[Jeffrey P]

Orithopod jaw and a big theropod tooth- that is an amazing day. Congratulations and thanks for sharing these with us. Looks like you've found a very productive Morrison site. Love to see more from there. 

[Clint08]

Very cool, and interesting jaw piece. Congrats on your finds!

[Nimravis]

2 hours ago, jpc said:

Here is a set that we found for work that actually made the news a few months ago. 

https://www.livescience.com/pterosaurs-walked-in-rain.html

 

Very nice write-up, congrats on the find.

[jpc]

1 hour ago, Jeffrey P said:

Orithopod jaw and a big theropod tooth- that is an amazing day. Congratulations and thanks for sharing these with us. Looks like you've found a very productive Morrison site. Love to see more from there. 

Yes... a very good day.  I have worked extensive large Morrison quarries, but this is the first little dino jaw I have found.  I did go back on Sunday.  Collected what I think is a chunk of a large sauropod vertebra.  And explored more in this site, but found nothing else.  Beginner's luck to find such great fossils... and then nothing.  The site is very limited because I can only work where the cliff has collapsed, otherwise I would be working into cliffside... bad for one's three dimensionality.  And I like being three dimensional.  The cliff does continue for a mile or so and I have more to explore, but that is for another season.   

[Notidanodon]

On 30/11/2020 at 7:46 PM, jpc said:

Yes... a very good day.  I have worked extensive large Morrison quarries, but this is the first little dino jaw I have found.  I did go back on Sunday.  Collected what I think is a chunk of a large sauropod vertebra.  And explored more in this site, but found nothing else.  Beginner's luck to find such great fossils... and then nothing.  The site is very limited because I can only work where the cliff has collapsed, otherwise I would be working into cliffside... bad for one's three dimensionality.  And I like being three dimensional.  The cliff does continue for a mile or so and I have more to explore, but that is for another season.   

I quite like existing in the 3rd dimension as well, nice little jaw though, maybe you could post it in the associated dentitions thread

[jpc]

35 minutes ago, will stevenson said:

I quite like existing in the 3rd dimension as well, nice little jaw though, maybe you could post it in the associated dentitions thread

sounds good, but after I prep it.  : )

 

[jeannie55]

Looks like you had a productive day with the fossils and the birds. On my way to Grand River, we saw 4 bald eagles and two young ones. And, of course, every mile or so, we saw red tail hawks and a few barn owls. At a lake near my house, we have been watching cranes and swans. Our winter weather is mostly mild so even the geese and ducks hang out here. I guess we are the place to be for the birds migrating south. I do have a photo of an owl that hangs out in the big trees behind our house. I’ll try and post it. He or she tries to get at the neighbors chickens. On Thanksgiving day, a huge flock of wild turkeys landed in my garden. My husband and I are vegetarians so they were completely safe. You should do a fossil hunting bird watching coffee table book. 

[jpc]

39 minutes ago, jeannie55 said:

Looks like you had a productive day with the fossils and the birds. On my way to Grand River, we saw 4 bald eagles and two young ones. And, of course, every mile or so, we saw red tail hawks and a few barn owls. At a lake near my house, we have been watching cranes and swans. Our winter weather is mostly mild so even the geese and ducks hang out here. I guess we are the place to be for the birds migrating south. I do have a photo of an owl that hangs out in the big trees behind our house. I’ll try and post it. He or she tries to get at the neighbors chickens. On Thanksgiving day, a huge flock of wild turkeys landed in my garden. My husband and I are vegetarians so they were completely safe. You should do a fossil hunting bird watching coffee table book. 

a birds and bones book... I like it.....  Barn Owls.... now that is cool.