This summer has been, and will be, an extremely busy time for everyone at the CFDC. Summer programming, field work, promotional material, and school tours are only some of the activities that are keeping all the staff moving at a fast pace.
Our field technicians have been moving nonstop to accommodate all the tours that have been coming through the museum and our dig site! As of June 26, we have given museum tours to about 30 groups and additional dig tours to about 15 of those groups; this doesn't even include the people that have come through the museum without a guided tour. We've had people from all over Manitoba come through our doors as well as people from the United States and Ontario. Needless to say, there is a lot of learning going on in our neck of the woods! As we move through the summer, tours only get more busy as we look to provide education for people during the summer holidays.
In addition to taking groups out into the field, the field techs and our field and collections manager have spent lots of time exploring different sites and collecting some cool fossils. This year we have found lots of fish vertebrae, many fossil fragments, and various other small fossils. Recently, we excavated a hesperornis leg that consisted of three different bones from the same animal. As we continue on in the season we hope to find even more larger fossils to add to our collection.
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| Hesperornis femur, tibia-fibula, and tarsal metatarsus |
Besides tours and field work, the field techs are spending time in the museum cleaning fossils, organizing our collections room, developing games for kids programs, doing research, working on promotional material, and various other maintenance tasks. It seems there is always something to do! No matter what it is that this group of staff is doing, it is always an exciting task!
Aside from the science side of things, staff have also been spending lots of time doing outreach for the museum. So far we have attended an open house at Oak Hammock Marsh, the Morden Block Party, Kids Fest at the Forks, and the Teddy Bear Picnic. At each of these events, staff have been able to meet lots of people and hand out a lot of information about the museum. It seems that the community is excited about the museum and the work that is being done here!
We are also in the process of getting our Dino Day Camp up and running! Our Youth Program Coordinators have been developing crafts, planning games, and prepping teaching material in order to make sure the kids are going to have a blast! Camps begin July 3rd and run until August 18th. For more information about Dino Day Camps click here.
Later on in the summer we are also looking forward to several other larger events. These events include Bruce's birthday, the Corn and Apple Festival, as well as the Manitoba Palaeontology Symposium.Check out our website and Facebook page for more information about these events.
There are many great memories to look back on from this summer, but there are many more to be made! We are nearly halfway through our summer and continually look forward with delight and anticipation. We hope to see you walk through our doors and help make this summer even more enjoyable!
Jillana Groening
Field Technician
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