Mushrooms of Drumlin Farm

[urbpan]

Yesterday I led a "Fungi Field Walk" at Drumlin Farm. Because of this summer's wet weather, it's been an incredible few weeks for mushrooms. I had the biggest group I've ever led (the registrar stopped letting people in after the 16th person) and found more mushrooms than on any other walk. I got there early and researched some things I was a little unsteady on, and we had a great time. This is a clump of Mycena mushrooms, probably M. galericulata. We came across many clumps of them in many locations.



One of the first things we came across was this weird stuff that completely encircled the roots of a tree stump. I said it was a "resupinate polypore" but that's a little like saying a bird is a green-headed water bird. That describes what it is but doesn't identify it in any satisfying way. A quick consult with a couple world-renown mycologists earned me a shrug: "Maybe Leptoporus mollis?"


Maybe.


Some cute little "probably Mycenas."


The split-rail fence on Bird Hill was starting to grow some violet tooth polypore.


Also on Bird Hill was my old friend Orville the turkey vulture! The other night I dreamt that Simon Pegg and I were wildlife caretakers together, and Orville was chasing me around, just like old times. That bird has to be 45 years old now.


One of my favorites, Mirasmius capillaris, a tiny mushroom that grows on leaf litter, suddenly appearing in wet weather, vanishing when the sun dries them out, and coming back again in the rain.


Weather conditions in the Nature Center classroom were not especially conducive to learning. Kudos to the group for paying attention and not complaining (I did enough complaining for all).


On the way out I slowly moved by a trio of turkeys, which picked along the fenceline without any car for human or vehicular traffic.