A Paelontologist Vists The Burpee Museum 12/23/23

[Baking Geologist]

Because of this forum I found out about the Burpee Museum .  The world’s best assistant and general laborer offered to take me there today.  Prepare to be spammed with photos.  

[Darktooth]

[Tidgy's Dad]

[trilobites_are_awesome]

[Baking Geologist]

Let’s start with the holiday tomfoolery.  

 

Santa hats for them all!

 

Now on to rest of the ground floor adventures. 
 

Algae

 

Brachiopods

cephalopods

 

Gastropod

Ahhh…be still my heart.  

 

Edited December 24, 2023 by Baking Geologist

[Baking Geologist]

Trilobites

 

Crinoids 

 

Gastropods

 

Very nice Sassafras sp. leaf  

 

Quaternary Equus sp.

Pyritized Brachiopods

Phareodus sp. Green River Shale in Colorado 

Tiktaalik

[Baking Geologist]

Nice Euripids

Oh Hello

 

Different view of Jane

These are worth studying for their own sake.  

Turtle 🐢 

 

More exact.  

 

Edited December 24, 2023 by Baking Geologist

[Baking Geologist]

My first view in person of what a Tully Monster looks like.  

 

More Mazon Creek concretions. 

[Baking Geologist]

Greeted in the basement by this 

 

Display of how x-ray technology is used in the fossil lab.  
 

Closer view of these specimens.  

 

These are some organisms found in the Green River Shale in Utah.  
 

The Caiman is a cast. 

 

I love the ray.  And I’m not a vertebrate person.  

 

Crawdad and croc tooth.  

 

Very cool!

 

Water Strider.  I love this type of preservation, insects are hard to find in the fossil record.  

 

Perch anyone? Perch-like at least.  

 

[Baking Geologist]

Different types of limestone. 

And to finish up, fossils found locally to Rockford, Illinois

 

Good day was had by all.  Home now planning my next museum to visit.  

Edited December 24, 2023 by Baking Geologist

[trilobites_are_awesome]

Awesome! Thank you for posting!

[Tidgy's Dad]

It's lovely to see these regional museums with amazing fossils but also some of the ordinary local specimens that ordinary folk have a chance of finding.

Thank you for sharing.

[RuMert]

A very good museum, judging by the pics, No obvious mistakes noticed

[Baking Geologist]

21 hours ago, RuMert said:

A very good museum, judging by the pics, No obvious mistakes noticed

Yes, they really have done a nice job throughout the museum.  I thought this was a nice touch in the education room. 

Right at floor level and an inviting taxidermy for this Fox.  

[Psittacosaur9]

Very interesting displays! I just wanted to ask, did you get to see the Triceratops skeletons? I know the adult Triceratops, nicknamed 'Homer', is on display, but I cannot find anything confirming or denying whether the juveniles named 'Bart' and 'Lisa' which were found near Homer are on display.

[Baking Geologist]

3 hours ago, Psittacosaur9 said:

Very interesting displays! I just wanted to ask, did you get to see the Triceratops skeletons? I know the adult Triceratops, nicknamed 'Homer', is on display, but I cannot find anything confirming or denying whether the juveniles named 'Bart' and 'Lisa' which were found near Homer are on display.

I saw Homer. And the pretty cool juvenile through adult progression skull display.  I apologize that I didn’t take photos so I’m not sure about other names.  I have studied  mostly invertebrates so concentrated on those and Pleistocene finds.   Well and that cool turtle in the same room.  

[ClearLake]

Very nice, looks like a fun museum and one that I have not been to. Thanks for posting. And it reminds me that I have a museum visit or two that I keep meaning to post. 

[Wrangellian]

I missed this in the beginning... 

Those receptaculitids caught my eye, but there's a lot of great stuff there besides.

[DokDeino]

Been to the Burpee a few times as a kid and teen, it's a lovely museum. 

 

'Ah, be still my heart' genuinely made me laugh. Coquina like that is all over the place in Ordovician/Silurian outcrops in Illinois/Iowa. That slab was prepared pretty nicely, though! 

 

Also, if you ever go back, take a close look at the big T. rex they have. It has (or at least had) the wrong feet! They're upscaled Allosaurus feet! I caught that when I was a kid before I read the display, and it made 9-year-old me so happy. 

[Darktooth]

Nice report and pics! Thanks for sharing this!

[Praefectus]

Thanks for the trip report! Looks like a fun place! 

[Baking Geologist]

On 1/16/2024 at 1:51 PM, DokDeino said:

'Ah, be still my heart' genuinely made me laugh. Coquina like that is all over the place in Ordovician/Silurian outcrops in Illinois/Iowa. That slab was prepared pretty nicely, though! 

I grew up in Indiana. But mostly the Devonian/Mississippian outcrops.  So I don’t generally see so many brachiopods on a slab.  Yes very nicely prepared.  

[DokDeino]

3 hours ago, Baking Geologist said:

I grew up in Indiana. But mostly the Devonian/Mississippian outcrops.  So I don’t generally see so many brachiopods on a slab.  Yes very nicely prepared.  

Ah, fair fair. 

 

Still, glad you enjoyed the Burpee! 

[rocket]

Thanks for the nice report, gives a good impression of a nice museum