Monica Posted May 21, 2017 Share Posted May 21, 2017 Hello once again! Yesterday afternoon I had the kids to myself so I suggested that we head out to our local site for a little fossil-hunting. Viola was game, as usual, but William wasn't interested. I wouldn't take no for an answer, however, and so we headed off. All in all it was a nice few hours outdoors and, ironically enough, William didn't want to leave when Viola and I were ready to go! Hopefully this means he'll be willing to come along more often from now on. I took a few pictures of our outing - enjoy! Monica Picture #1: Viola leading the way Picture #2: William searching for fossils (he didn't find any this time ) Picture #3: A pair of Mallard ducks in the creek Picture #4: A couple of orthoconic nautiloids in a rock that's much too big to take home with us Picture #5: Viola holding up a pretty orthoconic nautiloid that was small enough to take home with us (By the way: you can see William in the background, playing in the creek - he had lost interest in looking for fossils by this point but at least he was finding something to do to keep himself amused!) Picture #6: There's a pretty little brachiopod somewhere in this picture - can you see it? Picture #7: Here's the brachiopod! The rock that it was in was too big to take with us, so we left it where we found it Picture #8: Our little haul of fossils: A - F are mine, G - J are Viola's (she found G, H, I and I found J and gave it to her since she loves her shells ) A, B, and C - snails D - brachiopod E - crinoid stems (I think) at interesting angles F - orthoconic nautiloid G - bivalve imprints (they are pretty faint so we may end up bringing it back to the creek) H - orthoconic nautiloid I - crinoid columnals J - bivalve 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnBrewer Posted May 21, 2017 Share Posted May 21, 2017 That's a nice variety of finds @Monica John Map of UK fossil sites Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kane Posted May 21, 2017 Share Posted May 21, 2017 Looks like it was a fun trip, and good to see it held William's attention (for a while at least ). That looks like some pretty interesting strata just across the creek. ...How to Philosophize with a Hammer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ranitomeya Posted May 21, 2017 Share Posted May 21, 2017 Great pictures, looks like a great spot to spend an afternoon! Also great job inspiring you children to play outside! And to echo what @Kane said about the strata across the stream, look closely in the exposed shales and you might find some cute little Flexicalymene trilobites hiding in there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted May 22, 2017 Share Posted May 22, 2017 Looks like a wonderful place to hunt! Looks like Viola is getting pretty good at this, William will get the fossil itch soon. Thanks for sharing the adventure. 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monica Posted May 22, 2017 Author Share Posted May 22, 2017 14 hours ago, JohnBrewer said: That's a nice variety of finds @Monica Thanks, John! The quality of the fossils we find at our local site is not great, but I just can't help myself from taking them home!!! I don't usually find a lot of snails, either, so I was happy to find a couple of pieces this past weekend 14 hours ago, Kane said: Looks like it was a fun trip, and good to see it held William's attention (for a while at least ). That looks like some pretty interesting strata just across the creek. Hi Kane! I was glad to get out on Saturday since it rained all day yesterday. As for the strata across the creek - it's pretty fragile - the pieces crumble as soon as you handle them (which William enjoyed immensely!). Do you think there might be fossils lurking in there? It looks different from the rocks we find lying on the ground, and the little bit I checked out contained no fossils, but if you and my fellow forum members think it might be worthwhile to search a little more then I will do so... 10 hours ago, Darktooth said: Thanks for sharing your adventure with us! Great report and pics! Another great day spending quality time with family, Monica scores a touch-down! Thanks for looking! 10 hours ago, ranitomeya said: Great pictures, looks like a great spot to spend an afternoon! Also great job inspiring you children to play outside! And to echo what @Kane said about the strata across the stream, look closely in the exposed shales and you might find some cute little Flexicalymene trilobites hiding in there. Do you think there might be some trilos hiding there?! That would be very exciting!!! I mentioned to Kane that the rock across the creek is very fragile and crumbles easily, and I've never seen any fossils hiding within it, but I haven't done an intense search of the strata, so maybe I should...? 7 hours ago, ynot said: Looks like a wonderful place to hunt! Looks like Viola is getting pretty good at this, William will get the fossil itch soon. Thanks for sharing the adventure. Hi Tony! It is a very nice place to hunt - as you can see, there are many rocks to search through, so I'm sure there are more fossils there that are just waiting to be found by us! As for Viola - she is getting pretty good - she spotted that nautiloid while she was standing right next to me, so she found something that I had obviously missed! And as for William - it's possible that he'll become interested in fossils at some point - I hope so, but even if he doesn't, at least I have Viola as my hunting partner! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ranitomeya Posted May 22, 2017 Share Posted May 22, 2017 HI Monica, I think there is a good chance you should find them (trilobites) there. I have not yet looked at Etobicoke creek, but I have found them in almost identical situations at Mímico almost every time I search for them (which is not nearly as often as I would like.) I have a attached a pic of one found in place. They can be hard to spot as often only one edge or part is exposed. They can be even trickier to extract in one piece, best to try to extract a few of the safety layers below the piece the trilobite is on to make sure you get it out in one piece. I usually find them closer to water level but not sure how that would apply to Etobicoke. Good luck hunting! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plantguy Posted May 22, 2017 Share Posted May 22, 2017 Hey Monica, thanks for the report. Looks like a great place for collecting and you just may be scratching the potential there. The kids seem to be liking it too--good deal! Regards, Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monica Posted May 23, 2017 Author Share Posted May 23, 2017 15 hours ago, Plantguy said: Hey Monica, thanks for the report. Looks like a great place for collecting and you just may be scratching the potential there. The kids seem to be liking it too--good deal! Regards, Chris Hi Chris! You're welcome for the report It is a nice place to look around, and we're usually the only ones there, so it's very peaceful (so long as the mosquitoes aren't out yet!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrangellian Posted June 3, 2017 Share Posted June 3, 2017 Poor William... do you have any more productive sites you can take him to that might encourage him? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monica Posted June 3, 2017 Author Share Posted June 3, 2017 10 minutes ago, Wrangellian said: Poor William... do you have any more productive sites you can take him to that might encourage him? Not that I've found just yet - I may try to do a little more exploring this summer to find new nearby locations... By the way - To be honest, I think that William might be a tad too young yet to understand how exciting fossils are. I often have fossils lying around, and I always ask if he wants to see/touch/hold them, and he pretty much always says "no." At this stage in his life, he'd much rather play pretend garbage-collector than look at and learn about fossils. He'll be starting junior kindergarten in September, so maybe he'll do a unit on dinosaurs like Viola did and that might get him interested...we'll see...fingers crossed!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrangellian Posted June 3, 2017 Share Posted June 3, 2017 Yeah, he's pretty young and still finding his way. I know I was not very appreciative of much at that age and just wanted to do my own thing... Dinosaurs never fail to grab kids' attention. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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