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Had a phenomenal trip down at Calvert Cliffs on Wednesday with my three month old daughter strapped to my chest. This trip makes up for my failed attempts in March where the sandbars where at an all time high and made it difficult to find anything. The sandbars pushed up from the storms a few months back even helped me to get to some hard to reach locations. Here's some finds and a scouting report for May of the cliffs.
 

Also recovered a nearly perfect decently sized  Ecphora gardenae that is still undergoing some preparation work. I'll take a picture of that and post it later along with some very large clams with Ecphora burrow holes.

 

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The blood red Mako as found in the sand. I rarely sift as the waves and storms (from the weekend) are constantly exposing the fossil record.

 

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Some of the nicer specimens of the day. Two makos on the left, snaggletooth bottom right and top middle. Cow shark with eight blades top right, and a decent sized tiger shark top middle.

 

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Recovered more Chesapecten nefrens that I could carry out. This is just a fragment of the shells recovered and layed out neatly in the trunk of my car. Some of the C. nefrens where about 5-6 inches in diameter and impressive to find intact as there were so many large shell fragments. These should make for some beautiful display pieces and gifts once they are cleaned up. Notice the right fins of the C. nefrens are larger than the left fins. This is a noticeable characteristic of this fossil scallop.

 

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Approaching the cliffs. The tides where up much higher this time but the waves where very gentle. This photo was taken around 7:00 am. The vegetation overgrowth should help to keep the cliffs from falling.

 

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Another shot of the blood red mako. I'll take a closeup of the other Mako later as it's a green-yellow cream color.

 

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Somebody found this stranded snapper turtle and carried him 3 miles back up to a freshwater pond. What a nice guy and what a cool looking turtle.

 

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A bunch of teeth, turritella, shark vertebrae, ray plates, makos, sand tiger, tiger, requiem, ecphora gardenae, crab claw tip, Megalodon root, and snaggletooth teeth collected by a local collector and myself combined from this trip and a recent trip.

 

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Matoaka cabins beach shore. The winds here were very strong and kicked up a lot of dust with some impressive waves. I had to protect my newborn in my chest as I braved the winds.

 

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Image 8: Female blue crab that appears to have deposited her eggs and passed away to be washed up on the shore. This is a good sign that the bay is recovering from over-crabbing. Crabs are vital to the bay's overall health as they are scavengers and eat decaying fish and other decomposing critters on the bottom of the bay.

 

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Male blue crab. You can tell it's a male by the "state capitol" on the underside. Perhaps his mate was the female that just layed her eggs.

Do or do not. There is no try. - Yoda

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Wow - beautiful fossils and all in great condition - congratulations!

 

Now where is the picture of you and your newborn fossil-hunting together?!  You've started her early so I'm sure that she will be a fantastic fossil-hunter when she grows up! :P

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@Monica I didn't attempt a selfie with her that day for fear of slipping into the sea as I was walking on some slippery sandstone and the waves where kicking up. I suppose I could have taken one with her later but the winds at the beach were so strong and the sand was kicking up. I didn't want to disturb her slumber but yes she will be a rock hound like myself someday.

Do or do not. There is no try. - Yoda

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Great report and pics! Very brave to do it with your newborn! You know you could always add some of those goodies to the auction:) I mean you do have so many..........:D 

Dipleurawhisperer5.jpg          MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png

I like Trilo-butts and I cannot lie.

 

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1 hour ago, Darktooth said:

Great report and pics! Very brave to do it with your newborn! You know you could always add some of those goodies to the auction:) I mean you do have so many..........:D 

 

@Darktooth been meaning to auction some stuff off for TFF. I'm actually giving most of my teeth up this month for trades. Next weekend I will go hunting for large Ecphoras in Virginia and I'm expecting some prepped E. rana trilobites in a few weeks that I could put up. I do have a bunch of large Chesapecten that I could put in some nice display cases and auction off. It's tough to find the large intact shells.

Do or do not. There is no try. - Yoda

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:popcorn:

Dipleurawhisperer5.jpg          MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png

I like Trilo-butts and I cannot lie.

 

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Beautiful pics and great finds, congrats:fistbump:

Every once in a great while it's not just a big rock down there!

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