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Incredible 3 Generation Fossil Hunt with LOTS of Pictures!


Bev

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This was a truly incredible hunt. Please be patient with me as this will take several replies as there are LOTS of pictures and a story to tell. I will say "The End" when I'm done. :-)

This was a private hunt booked through the Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center, Ecotours, for three generations of the same family. They were experienced fossil hunters and it showed! I'll give you a teaser of the TWO best finds!

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Praecupulocrinus conjugans as IDed for crinoid expert Crinus in this post:

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/66595-beautifully-articulated-ordovician-crinoid/

AND

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A beautiful whole trilobite from the Decorah Shale which I believe to be an Anataphrus borreaus, that is what we usually pull out of this site, but it needs more prep to be sure.

Read on for the WHOLE trip report...

It was a beautiful July day in southeast Minnesota for fossil hunting. Temps in the 70s, sunshine, a breeze, low humidity and we had just had two torrential rains that washed out a whole new batch of fossils. The bluff country if SE MN is part of the Driftless...

http://www.bluffcountryfossils.net/blog/mysteries-of-the-driftless-video/

and considered one of the most beautiful areas in North America - and very fossiliferous!

The Eagle Bluff bus arrived and we started out with about an hour tour at my place, Whispering Winds in Spring Valley, of the fossil gardens and fossil prep barn. With three children ages 5-9, I set up my dino area and showed them a young pigeon as an example of what a baby dinosaur may have looked like as all birds are descended from the dinosaurs. Thanks to the generosity of TFF members I was able to give them a REAL dinosaur bone collected in Wyoming and fossil shark and stingray teeth collected in Morocco. And they had a blast in the fossil sandbox fill with St. Peter Formation sand, fossils and minerals.

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Then off to Masonic Park which too me is the perfect fossil park!

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This limestone cliff shows the Prosser and Stewartville members of the Galena Formation wonderfully. A branch of the Root River runs below the cliff and not only Ordovician fossils but also Native American artifacts and Ice Age fossils (mammoth teeth) have been collected here. It also has a cave, an abandoned quarry, and even a hidden stream coming out from beneath a bluff with great fossil hunting on both sides of the road.

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Hunting the roadside ditches.

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From there we went to a lovely long road cut that includes both the Stewartville and Prosser members of the Galena Formation.

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Continued...

The more I learn, I realize the less I know.

:wacko:
 
 

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I try to customize every hunt to the participants and they wanted TRILOBITES! So we went to the Decorah Shale site and Grandpa got his trilobite!

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I believe to be an Anataphrus borreaus trilobite, but needs prep.

Then off to the last site that gave up even more!

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This young man was very happy on the rocks and his little backpack was so full of fossils that it was about as heavy as he was!

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And we encountered some very pretty Canadian Thistles before they were all prickly.

Continued...

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The more I learn, I realize the less I know.

:wacko:
 
 

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I thought this was pretty adorable!!! :-D

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And they found fossils!

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The little boy found a geodized cephalopod and there is a hormatoma gastropod.

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Herb believes this is a cephalopod with a brachiopod on top - really beautiful composition.

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A gorgeous detailed horn coral and great hash plates of the Ordovician sea bottom with lots of fossils embedded in them.

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What may be a worn trilobite pygidium.

Continued...

The more I learn, I realize the less I know.

:wacko:
 
 

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ANOTHER whole trilobite that needs prepping! Bumastus or Anataphrus borreaus? Prosser member of the Galena Formation.

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AND, drum roll please, this exquisite crinoid!

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Crinus

Praecupulocrinus conjugans.

Cupulocrinid Crinoids from the Middle Ordovician (Galena Group, Dunleith Formation) of Northern Iowa and Southern Minnesota

James C. Brower

Journal of Paleontology

Vol. 66, No. 1 (Jan., 1992), pp. 99-128

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What a FIND!!!

These are extremely successful creatures, they have not even gone extinct! Here is a link to a video of a living crinoid!

http://www.bluffcountryfossils.net/blog/whats-this-crinoids/

And to top the day off, Jennie, the Eagle Bluff Skills School coordinator,

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brought from FOUR Shiitake Mushroom logs inoculated from their spring class.

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Ironwood inoculated with Shiitake Mushrooms.

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What a WONDERFUL Fossil Hunt! Everyone had a good time and found lots of fossils!

The End

The more I learn, I realize the less I know.

:wacko:
 
 

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What a wonderful experience! Those kids will never forget the big fossil hunt. You can also expect them to go for a quick look every time they see some rocks now, unless they do that already. Some of the kids in our Dallas Paleo Society "PIT Crew" (Paleontologists in Training) can't even walk down a gravel driveway without their nose to the ground.

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What a nice hunt Bev , great finds and lovely pics. Jill

' Keep calm and carry on fossiling '

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Nice report!! Thanks for sharing!!

What did You find?

Tony

Tony, when I am doing a hunt I try to make myself available to the group. IF I happen to find something, I usually give it to a member of the hunt. :-)

The more I learn, I realize the less I know.

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Wonderful post, Bev. You helped make one family very happy. This grandpa hopes to go on a three generation hunt soon.

Start the day with a smile and get it over with.

 

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Great report, Bev.

My son's just about old enough to join me, but he likes to throw his rocks in stead of collect them. lol Maybe when he's three he'll appreciate fossils a bit more......

~Charlie~

"There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why.....i dream of things that never were, and ask why not?" ~RFK
->Get your Mosasaur print
->How to spot a fake Trilobite
->How to identify a CONCRETION from a DINOSAUR EGG

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Great report, Bev.

My son's just about old enough to join me, but he likes to throw his rocks in stead of collect them. lol Maybe when he's three he'll appreciate fossils a bit more......

Even at 10 years old, boys like to throw rocks, especially into water. :-)

The more I learn, I realize the less I know.

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Engaging,hugely enjoyable report.

Bev,you take wonderfil pictures,razorsharp.

Those limestone Galena cliffs ,with the river running near it.are impressive and beautiful.

 

 

 

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Even at 10 years old, boys like to throw rocks, especially into water. :-)

Some of Us "boys" like to throw rocks even at 59, water or not. You just have to learn which ones are good to throw and which ones are not meant to be thrown! :D

Tony

Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys."

Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough."

 

My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection

My favorite thread on TFF.

 

 

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Engaging,hugely enjoyable report.

Bev,you take wonderfil pictures,razorsharp.

Those limestone Galena cliffs ,with the river running near it.are impressive and beautiful.

Thanks Doushantuo! It's the camera, not me. :P I just LOVE that park! :D

The more I learn, I realize the less I know.

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I just added a post on the scheduled July hunt, the day after this one, through Eagle Bluff here:

http://www.bluffcountryfossils.net/blog/fun-july-9-2016-eagle-bluff-group-fossil-hunt/

No great finds, but fun was had by all. :-)

The more I learn, I realize the less I know.

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Super cool. Nice to see the really young ones getting involved and having such a great time :)

Yes, the kids had a BLAST! And so did the adults. :-D

The more I learn, I realize the less I know.

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Looks like they had a great trip and a great guide.

I don't know that I am a great guide, but I'm beginning to think I might be a lucky charm as people have found some great fossils on the tours! Sometimes I am just in envy of what they find - that crinoid being one of them! This is a very fossiliferous area. :-D

The more I learn, I realize the less I know.

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Good job, Bev, glad to see a trip is productive so the folks can see that things can be found (never mind what can be found)..

Some of those pics can stand to be larger - I know the unprepped items can be unimpressive, but still...

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Good job, Bev, glad to see a trip is productive so the folks can see that things can be found (never mind what can be found)..

Some of those pics can stand to be larger - I know the unprepped items can be unimpressive, but still...

Thanks Wrangellian. I was trying to keep them small so that I would have fewer replies, but will take your suggestions on future posts on the fossils. :-)

The more I learn, I realize the less I know.

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Unless you find it a pain to post them I don't think it's bad to have a lot of replies. Anyway, the file size depends not just on the dimensions of the pic but on the 'quality' of the jpg that you save it at. Doesn't have to be 100% (90% can make a big difference in size with no noticeable difference in pic quality, and you can fit a lot more into one post)

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