Thursday, 23 July 2020: EMERGENCY ALERT broadcast on TV just now at 2:39 pm. Tornado threat - includes Calgary, Cochrane, Bragg Creek, etc. Now changed for Calgary to a Severe Thunderstorm Watch. And here comes the thunder ..... just one roll and that was it.

Thursday, 23 July 2020: our temperature mid morning is 19C (windchill 20C) and is supposed to get up to 26C this afternoon. Sunrise is at 5:50 am and sunset is at 9:34 pm. Very overcast, but supposed to brighten up this afternoon.

Yesterday afternoon, 22 July 2020, I just had to get out of the house for a short while. It was feeling too warm indoors and I needed fresh air. The weather forecast looked fine when I last checked. However, my short drive took me into rain twice. When it first started to rain, I turned around and headed for a small restaurant, Jane's Cafe, to pick up some take-out food - homemade Chili and Broccoli and Cheese soup. These made for a tasty supper later when I got home.

The rain stopped briefly and I decided I would still drive to my destination. I couldn't wait to check whether there were any Fly Agaric / Amanita muscaria mushrooms to be seen at a friend's acreage. I do have permission to go anytime, and this was just on the very edge of the forest. The grass and plants were already growing a few inches tall and I could see that it was not going to be easy to find anything. To my absolute delight, I caught sight of a bright splash of yellow and there it was - my very first Amanita muscaria of the year! Two were in a fairly young stage and there were maybe four or five older ones that had opened and been damaged (or nibbled on). Just a few feet further on and I found a little cluster of another kind of fungus. One of these had already turned its cap upwards and formed a curled rim.

In the few minutes that I was there, the air was thick with mosquitoes and their bites are still itchy this morning. Totally worth it, of course, for such a find. I have only ever seen these Amanitas a few times over the years. When I checked my photos on Flickr, it seems that my first sighting was back in 2008. How I wish we had the red ones with white specks here, not just the yellow/orange ones.

Tags:   Alberta Canada SW of Calgary nature mycology fungus fungi mushroom mushrooms yellow white specks Fly agaric Amanita muscaria

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Thursday, 23 July 2020: EMERGENCY ALERT broadcast on TV just now at 2:39 pm. Tornado threat - includes Calgary, Cochrane, Bragg Creek, etc. Now changed for Calgary to a Severe Thunderstorm Watch. And here comes the thunder ....

Thursday, 23 July 2020: our temperature mid morning is 19C (windchill 20C) and is supposed to get up to 26C this afternoon. Sunrise is at 5:50 am and sunset is at 9:34 pm. Very overcast, but supposed to brighten up this afternoon.

Yesterday afternoon, 22 July 2020, I just had to get out of the house for a short while. It was feeling too warm indoors and I needed fresh air. The weather forecast looked fine when I last checked. However, my short drive took me into rain twice. When it first started to rain, I turned around and headed for a small restaurant, Jane's Cafe, to pick up some take-out food - homemade Chili and Broccoli and Cheese soup. These made for a tasty supper later when I got home.

The rain stopped briefly and I decided I would still drive to my destination. I couldn't wait to check whether there were any Fly Agaric / Amanita muscaria mushrooms to be seen at a friend's acreage. I do have permission to go anytime, and this was just on the very edge of the forest. The grass and plants were already growing a few inches tall and I could see that it was not going to be easy to find anything. To my absolute delight, I caught sight of a bright splash of yellow and there it was - my very first Amanita muscaria of the year! Two were in a fairly young stage and there were maybe four or five older ones that had opened and been damaged (or nibbled on). Just a few feet further on and I found a little cluster of another kind of fungus. One of these had already turned its cap upwards and formed a curled rim.

In the few minutes that I was there, the air was thick with mosquitoes and their bites are still itchy this morning. Totally worth it, of course, for such a find. I have only ever seen these Amanitas a few times over the years.

© All Rights Reserved

Thursday, 23 July 2020: EMERGENCY ALERT broadcast on TV just now at 2:39 pm. Tornado threat - includes Calgary, Cochrane, Bragg Creek, etc. Now changed for Calgary to a Severe Thunderstorm Watch. And here comes the thunder ....

Thursday, 23 July 2020: our temperature mid morning is 19C (windchill 20C) and is supposed to get up to 26C this afternoon. Sunrise is at 5:50 am and sunset is at 9:34 pm. Very overcast, but supposed to brighten up this afternoon.

Yesterday afternoon, 22 July 2020, I just had to get out of the house for a short while. It was feeling too warm indoors and I needed fresh air. The weather forecast looked fine when I last checked. However, my short drive took me into rain twice. When it first started to rain, I turned around and headed for a small restaurant, Jane's Cafe, to pick up some take-out food - homemade Chili and Broccoli and Cheese soup. These made for a tasty supper later when I got home.

The rain stopped briefly and I decided I would still drive to my destination. I couldn't wait to check whether there were any Fly Agaric / Amanita muscaria mushrooms to be seen at a friend's acreage. I do have permission to go anytime, and this was just on the very edge of the forest. The grass and plants were already growing a few inches tall and I could see that it was not going to be easy to find anything. To my absolute delight, I caught sight of a bright splash of yellow and there it was - my very first Amanita muscaria of the year! Two were in a fairly young stage and there were maybe four or five older ones that had opened and been damaged (or nibbled on). Just a few feet further on and I found a little cluster of another kind of fungus. One of these had already turned its cap upwards and formed a curled rim.

In the few minutes that I was there, the air was thick with mosquitoes and their bites are still itchy this morning. Totally worth it, of course, for such a find. I have only ever seen these Amanitas a few times over the years.

© All Rights Reserved

Thursday, 23 July 2020: EMERGENCY ALERT broadcast on TV just now at 2:39 pm. Tornado threat - includes Calgary, Cochrane, Bragg Creek, etc. Now changed for Calgary to a Severe Thunderstorm Watch. And here comes the thunder ....

Thursday, 23 July 2020: our temperature mid morning is 19C (windchill 20C) and is supposed to get up to 26C this afternoon. Sunrise is at 5:50 am and sunset is at 9:34 pm. Very overcast, but supposed to brighten up this afternoon.

Yesterday afternoon, 22 July 2020, I just had to get out of the house for a short while. It was feeling too warm indoors and I needed fresh air. The weather forecast looked fine when I last checked. However, my short drive took me into rain twice. When it first started to rain, I turned around and headed for a small restaurant, Jane's Cafe, to pick up some take-out food - homemade Chili and Broccoli and Cheese soup. These made for a tasty supper later when I got home.

The rain stopped briefly and I decided I would still drive to my destination. I couldn't wait to check whether there were any Fly Agaric / Amanita muscaria mushrooms to be seen at a friend's acreage. I do have permission to go anytime, and this was just on the very edge of the forest. The grass and plants were already growing a few inches tall and I could see that it was not going to be easy to find anything. To my absolute delight, I caught sight of a bright splash of yellow and there it was - my very first Amanita muscaria of the year! Two were in a fairly young stage and there were maybe four or five older ones that had opened and been damaged (or nibbled on). Just a few feet further on and I found a little cluster of another kind of fungus. One of these had already turned its cap upwards and formed a curled rim.

In the few minutes that I was there, the air was thick with mosquitoes and their bites are still itchy this morning. Totally worth it, of course, for such a find. I have only ever seen these Amanitas a few times over the years.

© All Rights Reserved

Thursday, 23 July 2020: EMERGENCY ALERT broadcast on TV just now at 2:39 pm. Tornado threat - includes Calgary, Cochrane, Bragg Creek, etc. Now changed for Calgary to a Severe Thunderstorm Watch. And here comes the thunder ....

You can just see a very tiny patch of yellow on top of the bird's head. The Kingbird has a crown of yellow, orange, or red feathers on its head, but the crown is usually concealed. When it flew to a different post, I got a good view of the patch when it was a bit more obvious.

Thursday, 23 July 2020: our temperature mid morning is 19C (windchill 20C) and is supposed to get up to 26C this afternoon. Sunrise is at 5:50 am and sunset is at 9:34 pm. Very overcast, but supposed to brighten up this afternoon.

Yesterday afternoon, 22 July 2020, I just had to get out of the house for a short while. It was feeling too warm indoors and I needed fresh air. The weather forecast looked fine when I last checked. However, my short drive took me into rain twice. When it first started to rain, I turned around and headed for a small restaurant, Jane's Cafe, to pick up some take-out food - homemade Chili and Broccoli and Cheese soup. These made for a tasty supper later when I got home.

The rain stopped briefly and I decided I would still drive to my destination. I couldn't wait to check whether there were any Fly Agaric / Amanita muscaria mushrooms to be seen at a friend's acreage. I do have permission to go anytime, and this was just on the very edge of the forest. The grass and plants were already growing a few inches tall and I could see that it was not going to be easy to find anything. To my absolute delight, I caught sight of a bright splash of yellow and there it was - my very first Amanita muscaria of the year! Two were in a fairly young stage and there were maybe four or five older ones that had opened and been damaged (or nibbled on). Just a few feet further on and I found a little cluster of another kind of fungus. One of these had already turned its cap upwards and formed a curled rim.

In the few minutes that I was there, the air was thick with mosquitoes and their bites are still itchy this morning. Totally worth it, of course, for such a find. I have only ever seen these Amanitas a few times over the years.

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