Burpee Museum offers series of events July 8-10

From press release

Burpee Museum of Natural History, 737 N. Main St., Rockford, will present the following events July 8-10.

Julia Hull Library lecture, July 8

At 6 p.m., Thursday, July 8, Scott Williams, director of exhibits and science at Burpee Museum of Natural History, will give a lecture for the Julia Hull Library in Stillman Valley, Ill.

The 40-minute presentation will highlight the ongoing Burpee paleontological fieldwork in Utah and Montana.

This highly successful program has brought celebrity dinosaurs like Jane and Homer to the Rockford area. In addition Burpee has discovered one of the largest dinosaur bone beds found in the last 40 years. Williams just returned from the Hanksville-Burpee Quarry.

Family Fossil Field Trip, July 10

Williams will lead a Family Fossil Field Trip to the Trask Bridge Quarry, approximately 15 miles west of Rockford, from 9 a.m. to noon, Saturday, July 10. This three-hour-long field trip allows fossil enthusiasts of all ages to collect invertebrate fossils (trilobites, clams, cephalopods) from northern Illinois’ fossil-rich Platteville and Grand Detour Formations (450 million-year-old marine “limestone”). Participants may keep what they find (unless it is scientifically important).

Cost is $10 for members, $15 for non-members. Space is limited. Call (815) 965-3433 for details and to sign up.

Highway to Hell Creek Orientation and Update, July 10

A Highway to Hell Creek Orientation and Update will be from 1 to 3 p.m., Saturday, July 10, at Burpee Museum of Natural History. Have the adventure of a lifetime, be a part of Burpee’s highly successful paleo-field digs from the latest Cretaceous period (65-67 million years ago), Hell Creek Formation. Join Williams for a 40-minute PowerPoint presentation updating you on the Hell Creek field work that brought Jane and Homer to Rockford.

Several new discoveries in 2009, including a new Triceratops specimen, will ensure Burpee has one of the most comprehensive late Cretaceous exhibits ever.

There is no cost for this presentation.