Pictures for Pam, Day 116: Micro Mushroom Pair in Cave

(+3 insets)

Yesterday I mentioned the Spring-like weather we've had for the past few days. Whaever possessed me?! Today it's miserable, cold and raining! It makes me laugh because I should know better than to spout off about the lovely weather. Mother Nature refuses to be predictable!

I noticed that I haven't posted any mushroom pictures for a while so I thought it would be fun to share a little presentation I put together..

A few years ago I was creeping around on our property looking for mushrooms. I wasn't having a lot of luck but I kept hunting. I looked on the forest floor. I looked on the moss clinging to the trees. I looked under logs. Nothing. Feeling bored, I began studying the bark on the oak trees very closely. There are countless varieties of lichen and mosses to appreciate which appear in a rainbow of colors and I think they are extremely interesting.

As I was studying the bark, I suddenly found myself staring at one of the tiniest mushrooms I'd ever seen! It was peeking out from a crevice, as cute as can be. And then I noticed another one...and another! Why, these itty-bitty mushrooms were all over the bark and I'd never noticed them until now. What a huge surprise!

I have shared pictures of these little darlings in the past but it occurred to me that it might be fascinating for viewers to get a better understanding of how small these mushrooms really are. Along with my main image showing this pair of micro-sized beauties, there are two insets. One of them shows the tree at a normal distance and a circle that shows where the mushrooms are hiding. The second picture is a lot closer to show you what the environment looks like, and yet, those mushrooms are still quite small. In fact, each of them is perhaps 1/8" in size...they really are so very tiny!! If you enjoy these pictures, I have another presentation like this one that I'll share those at some point too. (I'm also including a colorful sunrise I got a while back!)

Pam, I did a search for "tiny" on your photo stream and lo' and behold, I discovered your tiny bracket fungus pictures! They are TERRIFIC!!! I especially love that you took pictures at various distances away as well, just like I did with my little presentation! *high five*

Explored on 3/06/19, highest placement, #4.