Birmingham Paleontological Society

The PRRA is a set of rules regarding fossil collecting on federal lands.

Our speaker for December is Drew Gentry, instructor and PhD student at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Hoover Public Library, Shakespeare Room. Business meeting starts at 7:00, program at 7:30pm. Free and open to the public.

Our speaker for November is Dr. Delores Robinson, Professor of Geological Sciences at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Hoover Public Library, Theater Conference Room. Business meeting starts at 7:00pm, program starts at 7:30pm. Free and open to the public.

The annual Fossil Teacher Workshop held jointly by the University of West Alabama and the Geologic Survey of Alabama was held at a gully site this year, and was set up a bit differently.  After the morning lecture, teachers and leaders were divided up into 3 groups, and each group went their own direction to map the stratigraphy of the layers between Point A and Point B.  After lunch, and discussion of the exercise, students went to another area to collect fossils.  One BPS student, Andrew Barnes, found the bones of an ancient bird, most likely a pterosaur.  These are extremely rare, and th

The Alabama Museum of Natural History hosts an annual National Fossil Day event in the Grand Gallery.  BPS set up an exhibit table, as did numerous groups from around the area.  This year, BPS highlighted photos of the dinosaur dig for the newly named species of hadrosaurid (duck billed dinosaur), Eotrachodon orientalis.

The BPS August field trip was to the UA museum archives in Tuscaloosa, where we were treated to a behind the scenes look at the collections.  Many items are from the 1800's or early 1900's, so their preservation is remarkable.  The collections include not only items from Alabama, but from many other states, and around the world.
 

Our speaker for Monday, October 3rd will be Dr. David Kopaska-Merkel, geologist at the Geological Survey of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.   The title of his presentation is "Stalking Chesterian Monsters."  The business meeting will be from 7:00 to 7:30; the public program is from 7:30-8:30. 

Though he will not be speaking on the topic, Dr. Kopaska-Merkel is one of the authors of the new edition of "Footprints in Stone: Fossil Traces of Coal-Age Tetrapods" textbook.

The Alabama Museum of Natural History will be hosting the fourth annual National Fossil Day event in the Grand Gallery on Wednesday, October 12 from 4:00-6:00 PM.

National Fossil Day is a celebration to promote public awareness and stewardship of fossils, as well as foster a greater appreciation of their scientific and educational values. Past events have included fossil displays, fossil identification, games and activities, and an opportunity to interact with the community. The event is free and open to the public and has seen great success in past years.

This hands-on Fossils of the Black Belt teacher workshop is a fun way to get CEU credits.  It will be held Tuesday, October 18, 2016 near Selma.  Details regarding location will be sent to each participant.  The workshop will run from 8:30 9:00am until 4:30 pm.