Birmingham Paleontological Society

Our speaker for February is George Phillips, Paleontology Curator at the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science, who will speak on Bryozoans. Hoover Public Library, Meeting Room A/B. Free and open to the public.

Our speaker for December is James Lames, Curator of Paleontology at the Black Belt Museum and Professor of Zoology at the University of West Alabama. He will be speaking on “What happened in the world of paleontology in 2014.” Hoover Public Library, Meeting Room C. Free and open to the public.

Note: this is the 2nd Monday due to room reservation conflicts.

BPS members went to North Shelby Public Library, where they did a presentation to approximately 53 students and their parents.  Riley Chandler gave the presentation on Dinosaurs, and Don Hill and Vicki Lais set up the fossil exhibit.  There were numerous give-aways available, including posters, postcards, and fossils.  One young attendee announced to Ms. Higgins "this was the best Homeschool Hangout, ever!"  Thanks to all those who came to hear the talk!

BPS traveled to Munford, AL one beautiful Sunday to do a lecture and fossil exhibit for the Alabama Freethought Society.

The teacher workshop was held near Selma, Alabama this year.  It was taught by professors from the University of West Alabama and geologists from the Geological Survey of Alabama.  Volunteers from BPS assisted with fossil identification, food preparation, and generally provided assistance as needed.  Teachers visited several large outcrops. Fossil finds included oysters, bivalves, snails, mosasaur vertebra, bryozoan, worm tubes, turtle, and shark teeth.   A very rare brittle star fossil was found by one of the teachers, which will be housed in a museum.

Another trip back to the January location.  Several members were psyched up about wanting to find another of the very large crinoid heads.  Alas, while we found nice brachiopods and crinoid stems, no more heads were found.