Wintery ammonite hunt

[jpc]

Howdy y'all.  Its been a while since I have reported on any fossil outings.  Been busy.  Two weekends ago I took my German friend, Finn, out to one of my ammonite sites.  It was a brisk 40 degrees F (5 C) and windy.  So, yeah, pretty chilly.  (We did not get the deep freeze they got in the upper midwest).  I call this site JPC355.  I have been here at least 25 times and I have almost stopped picking up baculites here, but I always get a few.  The site has a lot of baculites and a few much less common non-baculite ammonites.  All of these are often preserved in calcite and can show great suture lines.  This is in the Campanian Cody Shale (late Cret., about 80 million years old).

 

Here is Finn off in the distance.  In my early days of bird photography, (way before digital made it easy) we used to call this an ecosystem shot.  See if you can find Finn.  

 

And here he is collecting a baggie full of baculites.  These were his first baculites so he collected about three sandwich bags full.

 

Here is Finn's best ammonite that he found himself.  It is an incomplete Scaphites hippocrepis.  Nice yellow calcite.

 

This is my small herd of baculites.  Speaking of herds,we saw a herd of about 40 elk on the way home.  My picture of them is even more of an ecosystem shot than the photo of Finn above.

 

I usually get one or two S. hippocrepis.  Here is mine for the day (I also gave two to Finn).  This one is complete (left).  The ammonite on the right is a much less common Haresiceras.  I only have five or six of these from this site, so always good to find one.

 

And I don't know why the picture is sideways.  H on top, S on the bottom.

 

And lastly the most exciting, find... a piece of a Glyptoxoceras.  In 25 or so visits, I have never found this thing here; nor have I seen any of my guests find one.  And I have taken a lot of people out here, including a few of you folks.  This is only my second one, so yeah, an uncommon ammonite in my world.  I am thrilled when I find something new.    

 

 

 

Hope you enjoyed this midwinter vicarious fossil outing.  I did, and I know Finn did.  (Last weekend he went out hiking with another friend and they saw a herd of 500-600 pronghorn.  That is a lot). 

 

 

 

 

[Nimravis]

Great trip report JP and nice finds. BTW- “Here’s Finn”. 

 

[The Amateur Paleontologist]

Very nice field trip report  I love the Glyptoxoceras!

-Christian

[Monica]

Congrats on finding the heteromorph - it's a beauty!!!  The Baculites also look great - I don't think I'd be able to resist picking them up, either! 

[Jeffrey P]

Excellent finds for a wintry day. Congratulations, especially for those rare ammonite finds. I would have definitely braved the elements for those. 

[Fossildude19]

Nice report JP. Thanks for bringing us with you.  

 

[Heteromorph]

Great report! All lovely ammonites, especially the Glyptoxoceras.

[Tidgy's Dad]

Lovely report and photographs.

I spotted Finn too, but Ralph beat me to posting the proof. 

Does he win a prize?

Interesting that you have a German friend called Finn, as i had a Finnish friend called Jermaine! 

A couple of ammonites i didn't know there, very interesting, especially the Haresiceras and Glyptoxoceras.

All looks far too chilly for me though, I'd have to visit in the summer.

[FossilDAWG]

Very nice ammonites!  Never too cold for fossil hunting, as long as the ground isn't covered up with that nasty white stuff.

 

Don

[henpecked]

Nice treasures, thanks for sharing the story and pictures

[Al Tahan]

That’s my style of hunting...Hardcore! I’m a a fan of ammonites I must say. I really liked that little ammonite your friend found. great trip report!  

[Ludwigia]

Thanks for the report, JP. Looks like you guys had a very good day.

[ynot]

A cold hunt.

Congrats on the neat find!