Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Coral Fungus

How wonderful it feels to have a cooler morning! A short while ago, it was just 11C, now 15C just before noon. Finally, I can get some cooler air inside my place. The last two days, I have had to go out in my car just to get the relief of air-conditioning. Yesterday, I more or less repeated my drive from the previous day, except that I called in at Brown-Lowery Provincial Park to see if there was any sign of fungi growing. It is still not the peak of the fungi season, so I was not too hopeful. I barely entered the forest, as it still gives me the creeps, - Bears, Cougar and Moose are seen there, and I have been told so many times not to go by myself. So far, I have only seen a very large Moose. I did find a cluster of very tiny mushrooms ad several clumps of orange Coral Fungus in their usual location. Took a few wildflower shots, too, which I don't do very often these days, unlike a few years ago. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clavarioid_fungi

It's hard to believe that tomorrow is the start of September! Public schools here reopen tomorrow and no doubt many parents will heave a huge sigh of relief - and many kids will be happy to reunite with friends. Others will have very different feelings. On a drive yesterday afternoon, it simply felt like fall. Two Magpies were the only birds I saw, and the landscape felt empty of living creatures. After a great summer of seeing so many things, it was a sad feeling to now see so little. The smoke blown from the dreadful forest fires in the northwest United States had lessened by yesterday, 30 August 2015, so I decided to drive out to Brown-Lowery Provincial Park for a couple of hours. I made myself go into the park a short way, as there were a number of cars in the parking lot, so I knew there would be other people who would hopefully not flush any bears or cougars in my direction, ha! Like on my previous visit, I found just a few fungi to photograph, including this small patch of Coral Fungus. It was growing against a fallen, rotting log that was covered with beautiful mosses. However, it was dark enough under the log that I almost didn't see this fungus - brightened it up once I had downloaded it to my computer. Leaves from the deciduous trees had started to fall and these will make it so difficult to see anything growing on the forest floor from now on.

With a weather forecast of rain for tomorrow and mixed precipitation for Tuesday and Wednesday, there were a couple of places that I thought I had better get to yesterday, 6 September 204. The first one was Brown-Lowery, to check if there were any mushrooms. I was there recently, and only found a couple of things. Yesterday's visit was a little more rewarding and I found several large clusters of tiny mushrooms growing on tree stumps or at the base of trees. Also found several patches of bright orange Coral Fungi. Quite a few people were in the park, so I felt safer going a short way in. Far enough, as it turned out, to watch an adult and a juvenile Three-toed Woodpecker feeding together on a tree trunk. The young one was copying Mom or Dad, but its soft squeaking sound resulted in the adult feeding it, too. On the way home, I decided to call in at Fish Creek Park, hoping to find a Beaver or a Mink that a friend had told me about (thanks, Phil!). Though I did see a couple of Beavers, I wasn't able to get a decent photo of them. One of them was a huge animal - this was the one that was recently found in a trap, biting off one of its front legs that was caught in the trap. Someone had been there when this was happening and she made several reports about it. Thanks, Linda, for doing this. Such a cruel way to deal with any Beaver problem! The now three-legged animal seems to be doing OK. I was luckier with this Mink, catching it in a couple of quick shots. There were various things blocking part of my view, which is why I got pale or discoloured patches in the lower half of the image (posted yesterday). On the walk back to my car, I was lucky enough to see a distant doe and her two fawns. Apparently, she had three, so we were wondering if something had happened to one of them. Maybe a Coyote? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_mink

It's always nice to come across some kind of Coral Fungus in the forest. Found this one in Brown-Lowery Provincial Park on August 20th. I was out at Bebo Grove in Fish Creek Park yesterday afternoon and same thing - very few fungi to be seen. It was very wet down there, so dryness was obviously not a factor.

This beautiful, orange Coral Fungus was growing at Brown-Lowery Provincial Park.

Came across this rather fine Coral fungus yesterday, on a walk at Brown-Lowery Provincial Park. Trying to find more species of fungus can become almost - addictive, LOL? "Coral fungi, also sometimes called antler fungi, are mushrooms that are so named due to their resemblance to aquatic coral or antlers."