The culprit

A blur, I know, but it's not everyone (or me, before that day) who gets a photo of a Mosquito on a fungus : ) Taken on 12 June 2014, when I drove westwards towards the mountains. I wasn't sure how far along Elbow Falls Trail (Highway 66) I would get, as I didn't leave till the afternoon. I ended up going to Maclean Pond, which isn't all that far past Bragg Creek. After taking a couple of photos of this, I realized I had been bitten on my finger, either by this Mosquito or one of its friends.

This is a Lichen, not a mushroom. "Lichenomphallia is a genus of lichenized Basidomycetes or club fungi which has spores produced on club-shaped basidia. The lichen fungus resembles a mushroom and the algae are concentrated in special tissues or lobes at the base of the fruiting body. This plant is found in both books on Lichens and books on Mushrooms as Omphalina."

I had hoped to find lots of wildflowers in bloom, but the main plant was the Dandelion, so it was obviously too early after our late spring. Also a very few Shootingstars, one Blue-eyed Grass in bloom, several Valerian flowers, several clusters of Mouse-eared Chickweed and one of Calypso Orchids, and not much else.

On the way home, I drove a few of the backroads SW of Calgary, where I photographed a pair of Mountain Bluebirds, a Snipe, a Tree Swallow, a Brewer's Blackbird, and a Black Tern that was perched on a fence post. Usually, when I see Terns, they are flying fast and my camera can't catch them.