Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: group

I have been spending a lot of time looking through the pictures I took while I was down in San Anselmo visiting my brother and his wife. So many photos! (over 1400!!) So many subjects! One of the nicest things was just being out of my usual local. In a new place there are so many more opportunities to find something different and unusual. And then again, there are usual favorites as well! Nathalie, who is my younger brother's wife, took us on two hikes while we were there. Both of them started by merely walking out the door, going down the drive and up the road to the open space that was literally 5 minutes away. This public-accessible open space is filled with trails, meadows, and forest for all to enjoy. Marin County, where San Anselmo is found, has nearly 250 miles of trails and 16,000 acres of land that is set aside for recreation. Needless to say, it's a haven for anyone who loves the outdoors. On our first hike, I kept my eyes open for mushrooms, and boy did we hit the jackpot! Today's picture features a beautiful group that were sitting on the side of a hill, easy to get at and prepare for pictures. Nathalie was interested to see what I was doing and Steve helped me pull away leaves and dirt. I was very hopeful that I'd get some good shots and when I finally got to see them on the computer I couldn't resist diving into this image the moment I saw it! Hooray! Pam, I loved to see the video of your dogs playing in your pond! That was sooooo cute. We also have a seasonal pond and it's finally filling up after a fairly dry autumn and early winter. Watching your dogs playing in the water reminded me of the fun that our Boxer had running in and out of the water when it was full. What a silly dog...how I miss her. It was such fun to think about those great memories though! I hope you are feeling good today my dear! Explored on 1/7/19, highest placement, #1.

2 more pictures and a note above ! :) Yesterday I took the dogs out on a quick walk around the lower forest and as I walked, I looked to see if there were any new mushrooms. Holy cow, yes there were! I found some very large orange ones pushing their way up through leaves and moss and put those on my list for pictures today. This morning I took the dogs with me down to where I found the mushrooms and began excavating them. They were quite large--caps about 4-5" in diameter, and I relaxed and took my time, carefully removing leaves, pine needles and moss. Because they were pretty low to the ground, I decided to carefully move some moss around them so I could take a better picture. As I moved the moss to the side and continued brushing dirt out of the way, I saw something blue in the dirt under the place where the moss had been. "Hmm, I wonder what that is?" I thought to myself as I leaned closer...and closer, and..."NO. NO WAY. BLUE MUSHROOMS!! I FOUND BLUE MUSHROOMS!!!! AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" These are some of the most amazing fungus finds yet!!! HOORAY!! Laying in the dirt, growing under the moss, were several small clumps of these blue-green mushrooms. They were covered with dirt and some of them were so impossibly tiny that I had to be very, very careful when attempting to pick them up. I was so excited that I wanted to stop what I was doing and run up to the house with my amazing find so I could take pictures. But I didn't. Instead, I finished clearing my "stage" for the orange mushrooms and took pictures of them. (I'll be sharing that picture in the next couple of days...I showed Steve and his response was, "WOW!!" so hopefully you will all like it too! :D) Once I was pleased with my images of the orange mushrooms, I tucked the moss back around them and finally I carried the blue mushrooms back to the house. I was worried that the heat of my hand would affect them so I rolled them onto a bit of moss I had with me for "stage dressing". I first took pictures without washing them off, in case water would hurt them somehow or make them even dirtier. Looking at the pictures, I had to laugh...flecks of dirt show up like boulders at macro scale...I needed to wash the dirt off! So, I took a spray bottle and gently spritzed each little group. The next set of pictures was possibly more awful because the water made the mushrooms look really gross! YUCK! So, I let some time pass, allowing the water to dry and I tried again. Success! This group, if you can see, is four mushrooms--one of them grew in a folded-over position and is slightly buried in dirt. The tallest pair stand about .5 inches tall, or a bit more than 1 centimeter. What strange looking mushrooms! One of them that I didn't photograph had changed to a more tan color like the cap of the one on the left, and it was a bit larger, about .75" or just under 2 cm. (By the way, I added some light texturing to the background to give this image more depth) I have a friend, Ken Dies who's very experienced with mushrooms, and he explained that these mushrooms are not actually blue or green. They have been attacked by a fungus, which gives them that color! Thanks for the information, Ken! :) Henry Taube, Ph.D, M.Sc, B.Sc, FRSC (November 30, 1915 – November 16, 2005) was a Canadian-born American chemist noted for having been awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for "his work in the mechanisms of electron-transfer reactions, especially in metal complexes." He was the first Canadian-born chemist to win the Nobel Prize. Taube completed his undergraduate and Masters degrees at the University of Saskatchewan, and his Ph.D from the University of California, Berkeley. After finishing graduate school, Taube worked at Cornell University, the University of Chicago and Stanford University. Wikipedia: Henry Taube Explored on November 19, 2013. Highest placement, page 3.

3 notes above! :) I saw this group of birds circling and cruising on the thermals as they slowly passed over the property. I heard them cawing and doing aerobatics, tumbling and doing somersaults and generally having a wonderful time! After reading the information below and reading more on the web about the differences between these birds, I am not sure. The fan-shaped tails and the fact they are in a flock suggest they are crows, but crows have more of a flat wedge of their tail, so...this suggests these birds are ravens. Here's a picture to compare: Raven vs. crow tail feathers The aerobatics and low cawing sounds suggest they are ravens. They were quite large, which says raven; crows are a LOT smaller, and these guys were definitely big. If I'd been closer I'd be able to see their faces, which would tell me for sure. Judging on the extra information from Leapfrog (Art), I'm thinking they are ravens (my original feeling)....what do you think? Here's more info though, very interesting! :D How to Tell a Raven From a Crow , a helpful guide from Audobon! These black birds may look similar in some ways, but several distinctive traits help set them apart. These two species, common ravens and American crows, overlap widely throughout North America, and they look quite similar. But with a bit of practice, you can tell them apart. Ravens are larger, the size of a red-tailed hawk. Ravens often travel in pairs, while crows are seen in larger groups. (In flight, ravens will soar and do somersaults on thermal or wind-generated updrafts, but crows do not soar. So if that big black bird is soaring, it's a raven.) Also, watch the bird's tail as it flies overhead. The crow's tail feathers are basically the same length, so when the bird spreads its tail, it opens like a fan. Ravens, however, have longer middle feathers in their tails, so their tail appears wedge-shaped when open. (but not flat along the bottom like a crow) Listen closely to the birds' calls. Crows give a cawing sound. But ravens produce a lower croaking sound. This is what a Common Raven sounds like and this is what an American Crow sounds like.