Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: interestingness#464

On 12 June 2014, I drove westwards to the mountains, along Elbow Falls Trail (Highway 66) as far as Maclean Pond. I did a very slow walk, and was very happy when I noticed these tiny fungi growing on a fallen, rotting log. They may have been something like an inch tall. When I come across fungi that look like these, I'm never completely sure whether they are mushrooms or if they belong to a lichen that grows mushroom-like "things". This time, I know it's a Lichen, thanks to Ken Dies' help. I had intended cropping this image to square, but then decided to leave the original, as there are a few interesting things growing from the log, including mosses and Cladonia species. "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 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.

The sun was shining when I left the city. Half an hour later, this is the weather that was at my destination. Better, though, than the previous time I went recently, when everywhere was coated in freezing fog. This is the bird blind at Frank Lake, half an hour's drive from the southern edge of Calgary, taken on 19 April 2013. It's still snowing here this morning, after snow all day yesterday. Will have to clear the snow and ice off my car and see what the roads are like. I'm planning on going on a trip east of the city with friends, to visit a place I've been longing to see, so hopefully the roads will be OK. Lovely spring weather, ha.

This was such a beautiful sight, looking towards the sun at Gap Lake on Sunday, 20 January 2013. We had spent a bit of time there, looking for a pack of four Wolves that we had just been told about. Eventually, the animals appeared along the far side of the lake and I was able to get several very distant (as you can imagine!) shots. Most unfortunately, I received an e-mail later from the person who told us about the "Wolves", saying that it had now been decided that after all, these animals were Coyotes, not Wolves. Hugely disappointing, but we certainly enjoyed the temporary excitement - and seeing the beauty of this lake. I've found myself saying several times recently that I almost think I'll actually miss this winter - when I said or thought these words, it was no doubt after we had had some beautiful, sunny, comparatively mild days. Today, however, I'm getting really fed up of seeing dismal, overcast days with the snow falling!! Yesterday was a beautiful, sunny day, but I had a volunteer shift, so it was spent indoors, wishing I was cruising the backroads outside the city : )

This is one of the views from the University of Calgary Field Station in Kananaskis. Behind the trees that are on the far side of the highway is Barrier Lake. Three friends and I did a bio-assessment in the forested area and shore of the lake as well as the area this side of the road. We had such an enjoyable day there - a real treat! Near here, the Golden Eagle migration route has been monitored by Peter Sherrington, who recently won an Emerald Award for his devotion to recording these amazing birds and their migration route.