Stratford Hall - Potomac 5/21/17

[RCW3D]

I didn't think we would get out this weekend, my daughter's birthday was on Saturday and I knew that the Mid-Atlantic Fossil and Nature Club was going to be at Stratford Hall...but with nothing else to do today, we decided to head down. We arrived at dead high tide and once again, the water was higher than we ever saw it before...there was hardly any beach. I felt sorry for the folks that shelled out money for the M-AF&NC, spending over $100 to get access to areas that were in many cases, under water. I did hear that there were some cool finds, a big croc tooth and some 2"+ Makos. I also heard that Dr. Weems was excavating a 4' whale skull, I'm signed up to attend an event with him in a few weeks so I can't wait to ask about it.

 

Well, we settled in to sift...and sift and sift some more. We were finding the typical small stuff, nothing spectacular but still fun. I sifted up a baby Meg, too bad it was broken. Seeing the cusp on the side was pretty cool. My wife found what looks like to be some more turtle material and then on her last two scoops, a nice snaggletooth and a cow shark tooth. 

 

Total Haul.

 

 

Baby Meg, love the cusp! Too bad it wasn't whole.

 

 

Cow Shark...last scoop of the day!

 

 

Unknown, possibly turtle? Side 1.

 

 

Side 2

 

[Miocene_Mason]

Nice finds! That definitely looks like as scute, couldn't tell if it was turtle or crocodile though.

[RCW3D]

8 minutes ago, Darktooth said:

Nice finds! So what's up with all this high water? Even here in New York our lakes and streams have been running higher than normal.

 

Kind of hard to say, we also got a ton of rain but the Potomac is tidal, normally the tides and the winds dictate the water level. I think we may have a combination of surplus water coming into the river and winds that has stacked up the water in the river too. We need a good stiff Northwest wind to blow all the water out. I may have a chance to hit up Purse tomorrow but if the river is still up, it might not even be worth going. 

[Ropterus]

High water can be very frustrating, but still fun to get out! Nice finds!

[SailingAlongToo]

@RCW3D was that you with the other guy screening together with 1 screen? I thought it might have been you which was why I came over to talk to that person and was going to introduce myself to you.

 

[RCW3D]

No, I was using the Shark Tooth Sifter  (sand flea type rake) by myself. We didn't get to the beach until around noon. My daughter was with me for a while, swiping what she could from my sifts...she likes it when I do all the work. 

 

My wife and I are signed up for the June event with Dr. Weems, any chance you are going? Or anyone else for that matter?

[SailingAlongToo]

I was hoping you would be there one of the days so I could finally meet you. If I had managed to run into you, I was going to take you with me down the beach to see the excavation activities. I will have to communicate in advance, next time I'm going to be there.

 

Don't feel too bad for the MAFANA folks, overall they did quite well on Sunday, even with the high water.  Sunday's wind was supposed to be SE 5-8 mph, which would have been off the cliffs and perfect. When we put the boat in around 0820am it was quite nice. By 0900a wind had turned ENE and gusting to 15 mph. In 40 minutes we went from calm to 2 ft swells hitting the stern while the boat was on the beach. Obviously, we quickly put the boat back on the trailer. Wind stayed E - ENE all day, stacking up water in the river and not letting it flow out into the bay. I will say though, one benefit of waves consistently hitting the beach, they constantly throw new things of interest up on the beach for people to find.

 

We'll catch up somewhere sooner or later.

 

Cheers,

SA2