I’ve been taking pictures of mushrooms in the woods for three or four years, but it’s only this year that I realized how plentiful they are in the last summer, especially after a good rain.
I saw so many mushrooms when I took a walking meditation on Friday. Today I went back, with my camera, thought the woods behind the farm to the Old Ice Road to take their pictures.
Many of the mushrooms I saw two days ago had been eaten. ( I wonder what the mushroom above will look like after the slug has moved on.)
Others had been toppled, maybe by animals knocking them down as they walked by. (I’ve seen Zinnia do that more than once). I took a picture of the mushroom above on Friday….
…this is what it looked like today. Still beautiful with that lovely curl and feathery texture.
Maybe it was the bear who left this print in the mud (next to the tire marks of an ATV), who knocked over the mushroom. The bear print was as big as my hand.
There were many mushroom that looked as if they had popped up overnight, pushing the leaves and twigs above them out of the way as they grew.
I wasn’t surprised to see the mushrooms, but I could hardly believe seeing the nest in the ground right next to the deer tail off the Old Ice Road.
I must have passed it so many times this summer without seeing it. The nest looked as if it was growing right out of the ground. The sides built of chunks of rotting wood and leaves (that I could see) and the center, a swirl of pine needles about the size of a tennis ball.
I don’t know whose nest it is. I’ve never seen one like it.
If anyone reading this has any ideas, I’d love to know what you think.
Love the photos Maria! The nest might be from a small sparrow. I have had the little ground nests in my yard too. I have never noticed any chicks, I only find the nest afterwards.
Oh that’s interesting Rae, I’ll have to look into them, I’ve never heard of sparrows nesting on the ground. Thanks!
So happy to see your beautiful mushroom pictures. It brought back wonderful memories of going into the woods with my dad as he picked them. Never learned how he knew the safe ones to pick but he never poisoned us
Wish I had pictures of those hikes but yours helped me recall those days
Ah that’s a sweet memory Chris. It’s too bad he didn’t pass the information on to you, but still a wonderful experience to have. I can just picture it. :)
You need a mycologist to tell you if any of those mushrooms are edible. The only ones I will safely gather are morels as here in California there are no mushrooms you could mistake them for. Mushrooms are so healthy but poisonous ones can obviously be fatal.
I really know nothing about them Barbara, I’d never attempt to eat them. Someday maybe I’ll learn their names and more about them. For now I just like looking at them and taking their pictures. Another way of “knowing” them. :)
I wonder if that’s a killdeer nest. They are ground nesters and I’ve seen similar nests in our field. Their babies are born fully feathered with their eyes open. They look like little fluff balls on stilts.
It could be Josie. I’ve looked for Killdeer nests in our fields and have never been able to find any. This on was in the woods so I didn’t think of as where they make a nest. I’d love to see the babies. I guess they have to be born ready to go since they live on the ground.
After talking to my granddaughter Sammy who is studying birds and habitats she said it’s most likely a hermit thrush. They are an eastern bird that nest on the forest floor. I learned something new today
Josie, Thank Sammy for me, and thank you for asking her, how nice to have a granddaughter studying birds! I learned something new today too. :)
It could be an Eastern Towee who make nests like this. I love the Towee’s who nest around my house
Ah, a hermit thrush or a Towee. I’m going to look them both up and see if I can determine which it might be. Thanks Marianna.