Every now and then, you can be lucky finding sunlight shining though the forest and lighting up the very fungus that you've found. This is an old photo from my archives, from a folder that I had forgotten about. Thought I'd post it and add to my Fungi, Lichens and Slime Molds 4 album - wow, that means I have 901 fungi, lichen or slime mold images on my photostream, lol. This one was photographed on 23 August 2010, SW of Calgary at Brown-Lowery Provincial Park. Is this a species of Crepidotus?

The famous, annual Calgary Stampede begins tomorrow, with the Stampede Parade taking place in the morning. William Shatner (from Star Trek) is our Parade Marshall. No worries about the weather, as it's a beautiful, sunny day today and tomorrow is supposed to be good, too. Too hot for my liking, though, as it's supposed to get up to 32°C (90°F) this afternoon.

Lol, mid-evening, and the ice-cream van is driving up and down my street, playing Christmas songs! Hoping to make us all feel cooler??

Tags:   Alberta Canada SW of Calgary Brown-Lowery Provincial Park nature mycology fungus fungi rotting wood forest macro close-up gills bokeh Explore interestingness#411 explore2014July04 annkelliott Anne Elliott FZ35 Lumix Crepidotus sp.?

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Not quite sure where this photo was taken, but it was taken way back on 17 September 2010. I seem to remember that that was the year that was so good for fungi. Not sure that I'll be getting out to find any this year, so I might just go through some archived files. Just checked on Flickr and discovered that these mushrooms were seen at a Birthplace Forest near the edge of Fish Creek Park.

Tags:   Calgary Alberta Canada SE Calgary Birthplace Forest nature mycology fungus fungi mushroom mushrooms cluster caps pattern texture

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I love seeing Rust Fungus on various plants. It's quite amazing what things look like when you take a careful, close look. If you happen to notice a small patch of vivid orange on a plant, take a closer look at it, and this is what you may see. This macro shot shows the orange spore pustules of Rust Fungus on Western White Clematis, growing wild at the Erlton/Roxboro Natural Area.

After a volunteer shift on 23 July 2014, I wasn't too far away from the Erlton/Roxboro Natural Area, where I was finally going to go on a botany walk. Having been to this location several times before, I knew it was a short, easy, flat trail, and that I could go as far as I wanted and then turn back early, which is what I did. I've missed pretty well all the botany and birding walks the last few months, which is quite depressing. The main thing I wanted to see were the Nodding / Musk Thistles, as these are my favourite species of Thistle. They are called a "weed", but I love to see them. The sun was unfortunately in the wrong direction, so I was only able to get a handful of shots, but better than nothing.

With a couple of hours to "kill", I spent them at the Reader Rock Garden, which was just a few minutes' drive away from the evening botany walk location.

Tags:   Calgary Alberta Canada Erlton/Roxboro Natural Area nature plant vine Clematis Western White Clematis Clematis ligustifolia Rust Rust Fungus orange spore pustules macro close-up Explore explore2014July26 dropped before Scouted screen shot taken annkelliott Anne Elliott Panasonic DMC-FZ200 FZ200 Lumix point-and-shoot

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Yesterday, 10 August 2014, I slept right through an hour of very loud music and then woke up nearly five hours later (around 11:30 a.m.)! As a result, I missed a trip with friends to a great place SW of the city, Brown-Lowery Provincial Park - one that I don't like going to on my own. Knowing that there would be other people in the area, I decided to still go, but not go very far into the forest on my own. Hopefully, the others would scare any Bears and Cougars out of the forest and not in my direction! To say that I could kick myself is to put it mildly!

So much for hoping that other people would scare off any bears. When I arrived at the not particularly well-known natural forest, I signed the "guest book" as I often do. Before I turned the page to sign on a nice fresh page, I happened to read a comment that someone had written - a Black Bear had been seen that day, on the very trail I wanted to go on! I put the can of Bear Spray into my fanny-pack (can't use a backpack because of the rotator cuff inflammation in both my shoulders), but after a few steps, knew it felt just too heavy. Put it back in the car and instead, attached my bear bell to my camera strap and clutched a small air-horn in one hand. I only spent about an hour in the forest, but did not enjoy a single step of it, lol! I was determined to at least go a very tiny way in, having driven all the way there. Very thankfully, there was no sign of the bear - but also no sign of any mushrooms other than one tiny cluster of Pholiotas (in my photo above) at the base of a tree stump. Absolutely nothing, despite recent rain. Maybe it's still too early, especially after such a late spring? August is supposedly the peak of the fungi season here. Saw very little on the drive home - a couple of Hawks (one on a hay bale), a few Ravens and a few Crows, one Cedar Waxwing, and several very distant ducks. No sign of any Red-winged or Yellow-headed Blackbirds and no Wilson's Snipe.

Tags:   Alberta Canada SW of Calgary Brown-Lowery Provincial Park nature mycology fungus fungi mushroom mushrooms maybe Pholiotas? cluster forest textured cap macro close-up base of tree stump

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Yesterday, 13 August 2014, I had a volunteer shift and afterwards, as I sometimes do, drove to the Reader Rock Garden. Thought I'd better see what flowers were in bloom, as summer is slipping away so fast and I haven't taken all that many colourful images of flowers, garden or wild. They come in so handy during the seven long months of winter that are not all that far away now, breaking the monotony of "white" photos. Some of the flowers were well past their prime, but still make an interesting shot.

I was happy to find several of these mushrooms, especially as I, and others, have had practically no luck in seeing any fungi (yet). Some years are good fungi years and others are not. With a late spring and late summer, maybe it's still too early, though August is apparently the peak of the mushroom season here.

Tags:   Calgary Alberta Canada Reader Rock Garden nature mycology fungus fungi mushroom mushrooms cap cracked pattern macro close-up twigs and needles Explore interestingness# explore2014August15 annkelliott Anne Elliott Panasonic DMC-FZ200 FZ200 Lumix point-and-shoot

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