Fungus Among--us

Meanwhile the rains and humidity have provided a wonderful world of beautiful fungi/mushrooms. I'm going to just ID these with common names as I could be off with their true identity.

According to 'Google Lens' and one of my ID books, these should be Cany Caps fungi. They are similar to another kind of mushroom, however you have to look at cellular structure and spore prints. I did smell them and they did smell sort of sweet.

I can't believe my luck in finding these. I had walked through a few other places where I always find mushrooms and fungi. I found plenty of deer but not cool fungi.

So, I took a detour to a different section where I usually don't find fungi and was surprised by the amount of cool mushrooms and slime mold I was able to find.

I don't recall seeing any mushrooms in this section of the forest in the past few years of drought. So I imagine the spores have just been waiting for heat and humid conditions.

This fall ought to produce a magnificent showing of fungi.

I couldn't believe my eyes. In a small area, everywhere I looked I saw these.

Angel of Death Mushroom.

Destroying Angel

But.... according to certain sources these are only supposed to grow on the west coast of the US. I am sort of confused because I can't find any other white mushroom that looks like this.

I still think it is a cool looking mushroom. It was easy to spot in the forest and they grew in singles or very small clumps of two near each other.

I'm just going to be safe and obviously not eat them. There are very few wild ones I can identify safely, this is not one of them.

They are quite beautiful though. Pure white with a stunning shape.

I couldn't help but use them in a Rock Monster photo. It seems like Zombies and Monsters would like such a mushroom.

Then there were many spots of 'False Coral Fungi' aka known as Sebacina which don't grow on wood but on forest floor litter. I found so many specimens.

This one was the cleanest.

The Lego Zombies thought it was great too.

Why not get some for supper?
Not that I'd try it, but apparently it doesn't hurt skeletons.

There was so many of them in this little area that I was able to shoot in several spots. 

A vampire knight seems to be happy in this bunch of older fungi.

The mornings have been foggy and of course damp. The past two mornings have been cool along with a heavy dew. Even the flower beds are sprouting little fungi families.

These are more than likely 'Common Ink Caps'. The appear and quickly spore and shrivel up.

Don't eat the mushrooms...at least I don't even try unless it is something I definitely know is safe.

I wonder if the dinosaurs were told to be careful???

Gee, I don't know.

Macro Photography

I love macro stuff. I love the little things. Especially outdoors. Maybe it is because our forest is so overwhelming when all the leaves come in and the brush is filled out. The forest looks like a green wall by mid summer. All of its secrets hide close to the ground or under prickly brush.

I discovered tiny things a long time ago. This is one of my all time favorites. The day was so hot and humid and I was frustrated. I only had a long lens with me and an old second hand camera. I crawled under some brambles and crouched. To my ultimate surprise, I got this.

And I was hooked on the little things to be found in the woods.
If it was little, I'd try and take a shot. Anything was game. I even searched for pocket cameras to carry that had a 'macro' feature.

[I am a killer on pocket cameras. I carry them in foul weather and have dropped them while riding mules. I am a pocket camera slayer. So far though, my Oly Tough TG6 has lasted over a year with me.]

My interest peaked the first time my husband took me Morel Hunting. I had a film camera that I carried with a fixed lens and getting things up close was a challenge.

Some day I'll share how I mortally wounded that camera. This is from 1999 shot with a vintage manual Canon with a fixed lens.

 

This whole Morel experience got me more interested in the Forest Floor than large landscapes. What can I say? Morels have a spell on me! 

And then I decided to try using a real macro lens. I got down in the dirt next to a log the other day and....

My intended shot was this:

What I got was this.

The hazards of having Charlie with me!

He did sit quietly while I rummaged around in the brush to find another shot of Spring Beauties.

I quit after that. It was hot, Charlie was hot. And a hen Turkey was clucking away somewhere close by.

Charlie was sure it was Godzilla.

Spring is coming on strong, so I'll be doing a lot of crawling around and searching for things like fiddleheads and other tiny things.

It is raining lightly so I challenged my hiking pal to hike in the rain with me.

Charlie says he is willing and ready.

I wonder what little things we will find?