Top Photo: Colorful fungus. First pointed out to me by Ranger Isabel, I went to the site she described and had a look for myself. Isabel had spotted an oddly colored fungus or mold while doing work on our 750’ boardwalk and wanted to know if I knew what it was. It was right where she said it would be, on the dead, secondary trunk of a redbud tree. I had come across this deep blue fungus before, on twoRead more
Posts filed in: Mushrooms
Turning the Corner
Top Photo: Monarch larva. Fall is creeping up on us. And though it’s forecast to be in the 90s all week I can feel, and see, the season turning. Here’s what’s going on in our neighborhood. Amanita mushroom (Amanita jacksonii) is a common mushroom of the Piedmont. The one pictured was along the path in Explore the Wild. They’re edible, but I’m not recommending eating them. It looks as though something has eaten part of the mushroom. Buttonbush is wellRead more
Chicken Mushroom, Rare Wren, Odd Sweetgum, Active Tadpoles and Basking Turtles
Top Photo: Chicken of the woods. Chicken of the woods is a shelf mushroom which grows directly from dead wood. It does not have stems or stalks, and it’s a polypore, meaning it has numerous pores on the underside of its caps or shelves rather than gills to spread its spores. This mushroom may be bright yellow or orange when fresh but may fade to white or tan as it ages. It’s edible. However, while doing research, I found it’sRead more
October Awakenings
Top Photo: Mating common snapping turtles in the spring create hatchlings for the fall (see below). Snapping turtles have a rough and tumble mating season. The choosing and sorting out of mating partners can be rather violent. But for snapping turtles it’s a necessary part of the process which occurs each spring and summer. Rest comes next for the big males. Snapping turtles leave the water infrequently and for only a very few good reasons (a basking snapping turtle isRead more
Stinkhorn and Flies
Top Photo: Fruit flies feed upon the sporogenous gleba of a Ravenel’s stinkhorn on the Dinosaur Trail. While gazing down at the Ravenel’s stinkhorn next to the Alamosaurus on the back side of the Dinosaur Trail, I noticed one large fly, a flesh fly, and many more much smaller Diptera (about 2mm in length). The little flies had red eyes and looked to be fruit flies. The first thing that came to mind was indeed, fruit fly. But I couldn’tRead more
Approaching Fall
Top Photo: Larva of larger elm leaf beetle skeletonizing elm leaf in Catch the Wind. We’re fast approaching fall. It has cooled some but not overwhelmingly so. There’s been a break in the barrage of high 90 degree days and stifling humidity. The tropical heat and humidity are temporarily on hold. But a break, no matter how small or short-lived, is a break. You can feel a difference. I’m mostly happy with it. So, here are a group of animals,Read more
Fungi
Top Photo: Bird’s nest mushrooms. A few days of rain and the dead wood and mulch comes alive. Fungi of all types have been popping out of tree stumps, branches and path-side wood mulch. Here’s just a few samples of what’s about at the moment. There’s more than one kind of bird’s nest mushroom. But you don’t have to know each species’ name to appreciate their uniqueness and remarkability. These typically 1/4” and smaller mushrooms pop up out of theRead more
Slime Mold?
Top Photo: Apparent slime mold. The tiny gray specks (≤ 1mm) that make up the above and following photos were pointed out to me by Ranger Pen. The sharp-eyed and curious Pen spotted them in the leaf litter alongside the path near the Butterfly House. I initially thought them some kind of insect eggs or perhaps a fungi. A closer look, after taking photos of the mass, revealed that each tiny, gray, round blob was at the end of aRead more
Another Stinkhorn, 4 Butterflies, 2 Wasps, Young Anoles, a Groundhog, and a Blooming Redbud
Top Photo: Devil’s stinkhorn. The spreading of mulch is a common chore here at the museum. What with new plants going in, exhibits being installed or altered and multiple other projects going on, mulch is a common sight. Following the mulch, sometimes months later, comes fungus. Various mushrooms rise up out of the decaying organic material in the mulch. Pictured, we have what looks like devil’s stinkhorn (Phallus rubicundus) which is not a North American species. It’s similar to nativeRead more