Two Days On The Chesapeake

[SouthernMdRan]

I thought I'd write about my two trips to the Chesapeake this weekend (Friday and Saturday) as the finds made there represented a nice fossil "sampler" .

I usually hit the beach as soon as they open, but the predicted bay weather Friday caused me to hesitate - sustained winds around 20MPH and 2 foot waves (and temps in the high 30s) doesn't typically result in the best finds (not to mention being kind of cold). But I live 10 minutes from the park...and noted that it didn't seem very windy here at home (often the NWS doesn't quite get the bay shore predictions correct), so I made a late morning decision and decided to head over. I arrived a bit before noon. This worked well anyway as the tide situation (low tide around 2pm) was a little more favorable. The weather conditions, despite the forecast, were about as good as it gets in early January - virtually no wind, low water levels, and minimal wave action.

As I moved along the 1/4 mile stretch of beach I like to work, climbing over trees as they jut into the water here and there, I was thinking I had made a mistake. It's the darnedest thing - some days you just can't seem to find a shark tooth to save your life. So it was Friday - after covering the part of the beach that I usually cover, I had only a slightly broken 1 inch hemi to show for it. But as the day progressed, and the waves action changed, and the water level continued to lower, more teeth seemed to appear.

As the hours went by, I found a number of the usual small (1/2 in or so) tiger, lemon and bull shark teeth, an occasional similarly-sized mako (I love makos!)...and a number of hemis. I usually define the 'success' of a trip by finding larger makos (1 1/4 in or more), so having found none, I figured this wasn't going to be a very memorable day.

Later in the day though, things looked better as I ran across a 1 1/2 in lower isurus hastalis. Overall it was in nice condition, so I was happy. Not the best of days, but I've had worse. I was looking at about a 50 tooth day, which is ok for me for a 4 hour trip.

During the last hour of my day (before the park closed), my girlfriend gave me a call to check on how my day was going. We usually go to the beach together (although while there we often hardly ever see each other!), but when one goes to the park and the other doesn't, the unlucky one often calls or looks for the texts and pictures so that they can live vicariously through the one that is at the beach. My girlfriend also maintains that it's good luck for me to talk to her while I'm on the beach looking. (Thank goodness for handsfree bluetooth earpieces!)

As I'm talking to her, and scanning the beach and the surf, I get to a spot that I'd been by about 10 times before...lots of loose pebbly gravel...and I see something tumbling around. At first it didn't look like anything exciting...the parts I saw...tan in color (not the usual black or dark blue of a tooth) initially didn't look like anything I'd want...but I threw my scoop into the gravel, and pulled out a worn, but largely intact 2 1/4 inch megalodon tooth! As I said, it's worn...very few serrations, but it's hard to find one in great shape that's been tumbling around in the surf for who-knows-how long. I was just happy it was intact. (I have a number of almost perfect halves of 2-4 inch megs...they seem to be fairly fragile...much more than teeth from other species of sharks.) Suddenly my mediocre day turned into a real good day. And my GF got to share in the find too. :-) Ironically, as I continued to talk to her, 6 feet from where I found the meg, I found another 1 1/2 mako.

Yesterday I arrived at the beach at opening. Although the weather forecast was more benign than yesterday's (wrong) forecast, in reality it was actually worse. A strong breeze came from the north...and the waves were larger and crashing more quickly.

Like yesterday, it took me a while before I found any teeth. Interestingly, despite arriving around high tide, the water level was fairly low. I presumed the NW wind was pushing the water out of the bay. I was looking forward to see how low the water would get at low tide...which was to occur around 3pm.

Ironically, the first tooth of the day, coming after being at the beach for over an hour, wasn't a shark tooth but a mammal molar. I think it's probably a horse tooth, but I'm not smart enough to figure out the difference between a horse molar versus a camel or other mammal from the era.

As the day progressed, the teeth kept showing up...including a 1 inch mako here and there. In addition, the waves subsided a bit. By 1 or 2pm, water levels were very low - not to 'blowout' tide levels, but low enough to easily allow me to get to further areas of the park to the North that I usually don't bother with.

Now, with the water quieter and more shallow, I could see the bottom better. As I walked...I first spotted a 1 3/4 in mako on the bottom, more or less 'making my day'. Later, as I moved to the north...I picked up an additional 10 teeth or so, most of which were makos as it turned out. At one point I found, although broken on the left side a bit, I found a 2 inch mako.

It was getting late in the day...and although the overall size of the teeth were better than yesterday's, I was still headed for about a 50 tooth day, reflecting the poor conditions in the first half of my 7 hour visit to the park. In the last hour, in addition to the usual assortment of teeth, I managed to find a small mammal tooth (I believe it is from a peccary), as well as a croc tooth.

Finally, there was one other interesting fossil I found yesterday. It obviously is some kind of mammal bone, perhaps a leg bone. But I really have no idea what it is. (Any help here would be appreciated). I guess I'm not even sure that it is a fossil (as opposed to a modern bone)...but I think it is. It's about 7 inches long by the way.

Anyway, overall it was a very interesting couple of days. As I said earlier, quite a varied sample of fossils found...and over 100 teeth including that nice (for me) meg.

Rather than going to the beach again today...I thought I'd stay home and recover. :-) Usually I end up walking for 3-4 miles a day (including the trek down to the beach from the parking lot), so I figured I could use the break.

[MikeDOTB]

Great trip report! That's a lot of Makos!

[Auspex]

Boy, does that take me back...the best portion of my otherwise mis-spent youth went pretty much as you describe.

[Terphunter]

Very nice trip...thanks for sharing!

[t-tree]

Enjoyed reading about your trip and looking at your finds.

Cheers John

[Wolffish]

Great bay report

[cowsharks]

Congrats on your finds. I'm always interested to see what folks find there. Be careful out there, especially for days after storms, rain, etc.

Daryl.

[siteseer]

Yes, that wider tooth is from a horse, the modern genus, Equus. That tooth would not be from the time of megalodon. Equus appeared in the Late Pliocene and many species have been recognized from the Pleistocene. I don't know if the species could be determined from that specimen.

That smaller mammal tooth may be a deer tooth. If you can provide a viewing the biting surface as you did for the horse tooth, a mammal collector could probably say for sure. I think the earliest deer appeared in the Late Miocene-Pliocene.

Ironically, the first tooth of the day, coming after being at the beach for over an hour, wasn't a shark tooth but a mammal molar. I think it's probably a horse tooth, but I'm not smart enough to figure out the difference between a horse molar versus a camel or other mammal from the era.

It was getting late in the day...and although the overall size of the teeth were better than yesterday's, I was still headed for about a 50 tooth day, reflecting the poor conditions in the first half of my 7 hour visit to the park. In the last hour, in addition to the usual assortment of teeth, I managed to find a small mammal tooth (I believe it is from a peccary), as well as a croc tooth.

[Joyce]

Wow!! What great finds! Definitely making a date with MD this year after seeing this post! :-)

[traveltip1]

Your interesting report is motivation to remedy my wintery cabin fever itch. The Bay beckons.