We are just days away from departure for this summer's fossil dig and discovery. I have been reading the book Discovering Fossil Fishes by John G. Maisey. Since the majority of our time will be spent excavating a fish site, I thought I would try to learn about the evolution of fish and the variety of species that were alive during the Cretaceous period. The book is well written and very engaging. I believe it is out of print, but I found a very good copy on Amazon and it was sent from a secondary market source. I have a friend who is an ichthyologist and she uses this book as reference. There are fabulous photos of fossil fish and some imaginative paintings of the fish in their habitats. I plan to take the book with me and share it with our fellow volunteers.
I have been working in our garden, which gives me plenty of practice doing back breaking work. My tools are somewhat different than what I imagine we will be using at the fossil site, but the hours of working bent over at the tasks, will be very familiar I suspect. I really find that part of the day pretty straight forward...work 'til the sun goes down, or dinner must be started, or the back says, "enough!"
I did have some excitement in the garden this week. I had been working for hours ripping and cutting out invasive ivy and bamboo by our back fence. After some hours I went in the house and some time later my attention was drawn to our cat who was outside near where I had been working. She was in her "pointer" pose which I usually only notice when she is stalking a lizard or bird. I walked out to investigate and to my surprise, she was "pointing" at a snake. I really don't mind snakes, but I try to identify them before I make any moves. I am respectful of rattle snakes of which I have seen a few on the fossil digs of the past years. But I believe that keeping a safe distance between them and me is the best solution and will hopefully prevent some nasty encounter. Being 75 miles from medical help keeps me very cautious. But here in my own backyard I was not keen on having a resident rattler. We have had them at the front of our house, but never within the yard.
I first distracted the cat, caught her and placed her safely in the house. I returned to find the snake in exactly the same pose and still creating the familiar "shshshsh" sound that reminded me of rattlesnakes I have encountered before. The tricky part of this was that I could not see the tail which it had carefully hidden from my view. I assumed it was not a rattlesnake, but I wanted confirmation before I decided what to do next. After many minutes of the two of us keeping a keen eye on each other, it finally moved along (slowly) and found a wood post to "shimmy" up to the top of the fence. To my relief, it had no rattles on its tail (my dad told me last night that sometimes they lose their rattles), so I guess I must get better at snake species identification without the help of the sound cues. To add to that, my friend Pauline, told me this morning that rattlesnakes have learned not to rattle their tails as a survival behavior. Turns out that when they rattle their tails they alert the humans, who in turn kill them. Can't say I blame the snake, but once again, more inspiration for improving my ID skills.
Since this snake was making a "shshshsh" sound, my first thought was rattler. I think it was just quivering its tail in the dry bamboo leaves which sort of mimicked the sound a rattlesnake makes. So could it be that now we have rattlesnakes who have modified their behavior (not shaking their rattles) to improve their chances of survival and at the same time we have garter snakes (I think that is what our garden visitor was) who are vibrating their tails in hopes of fooling us into thinking they are poisonous snakes. It's a crazy world!
Our snake friend came back a couple of days later, as our cat was quick to "point" out once again. I have checked each day since, as I suspect our cat has too. So far it has not reappeared. I believe we can all get along quite peacefully as long as the cat keeps her distance and doesn't make a grab for it like she does with so many of the lizards in our garden. You can identify them because they are missing their tails. The wild kingdom is thriving here in Newport Beach.
So, I am beginning to pack for the trip and checking to make sure I have the essentials for life in the Hell Creek formation. Though the weather has been quite mild up til now, we will be prepared for the heat. Laurel and I have these great cooling vests that we soak in cold water in the morning before we drive to the site. Though they feel a little odd when you first put them on; cold and wet and heavy, boy do they help keep you from overheating while you are out in the sun for hours. We also have cooling bandanas that we soak in cold water and wrap around our necks. Keeping those major arteries in our necks cool is so refreshing and prevents fatigue. Big sun hats are a must, as is sunblock for any exposed skin. I wear clothing that has an SPF 30. Long pants are advisable because of the cactus, which is everywhere and the snakes, which, if they strike, are most likely to strike at ankle height. To that end, boots are preferable. I wear long sleeved shirts that are loose and have cooling vents. I have read that is a good idea to wear relatively bright colors in case you get separated from the group. I imagine that will be harder to do this year since we will all be working the same site, but I think it is excellent advice for other times when one is out looking for fossils and may not see other people for some time.
With that in mind, we take two way radios so that we can talk to each other and locate each other should we get out of sight or earshot. It is surprising how close you can be to someone out in this country and not get a response when you shout for them. Radios are a must. Someone always has GPS so that we can pin point where we are in relationship to known fossil locations, and retrace our steps to new locations. It is also essential for determining the boundaries of private ranch lands where we have permission to look for fossils.
There is a good article in the April 2009 issue of Smithsonian that describes the Dinosaur Wars that are going on today. I will not attempt to paraphrase any of the article since it is available online, and includes interesting responses from many people. I will say that it is worth reading to get an overview of the current debate as to who owns the dinosaur fossils in this country. If you are interested, it is a great place to start understanding the points of view of the opposing sides.
Returning to the issue of packing; I always take extra resealable bags and small containers for tiny fossils. I have a Swiss Army knife and one larger knife made esecially for poking around in the soil for fossils. In addition to my very dark sunglasses, I have my transition reading glasses so I don't miss the small stuff and I include a magnifying glass or loupe to look at the details of fossils. It is so exciting to see the serrations on teeth or the blood line in a small claw. We always carry two bottles of water and I bring my homemade trail mix. Everyone is given foil, and resealable bags. Toilet tissue is useful for wrapping fossils before you wrap the foil around them. I try to label the bags with the location of the find and the date and time. If I find fragments of fossilized bone I keep them in one bag so that I can attempt to glue them together after I return home. One more essential item is the bug repellent. There are some very hungry mosquitoes in South Dakota, and even though we will be working mostly in North Dakota this summer, I imagine there are hungry ones waiting for us there too. I am trying a natural repellent this year, but if that is ineffective, I am willing to spray repellent containing deet on my clothes. Handfuls of mosquito bites are so annoying.
So during this week, I am watering the garden, packing when the cat is asleep (she hates to see the luggage), cooking and freezing chili for daughter and spouse and speed reading about fossil fishes. I am very excited and looking forward to wonderful surprises in the field. I hope to have much to share as we uncover the fossil fish of Hell Creek in North Dakota.
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