Milkweed: the Next Generation

Posted on October 31, 2018 by Nick Hunter

Happy Halloween!

Posted on October 30, 2018 by Nick Hunter

Vulture, about to take flight in search of smelly dead things

Dead Man’s Fingers in a dark, damp place

Whitetail buck lurking in the cover of darkness

A web ghost, guarding the entrance to its cavernous home in a hollow tree

Rare discovery of a ghost nursery, masquerading as wild, White Baneberry

Unidentified swamp creature

Chippy, guarding its Halloween feast

A human perspective

The Forest Floor in Early Autumn

Posted on October 9, 2018 by Nick Hunter

Autumn’s answer to Spring wildflowers is fruiting bodies! They arrive in myriad shapes, sizes and colors, often without warning and, literally, overnight. Aside from being easy on the eyes, many are mycorrhizal. They colonize tree roots, forming a mutually beneficial or symbiotic relationship.

The Spring ephemerals thrive in a narrow window of opportunity, capturing light before it is filtered and blocked by the dense, new foliage of deciduous trees and shrubs. In contrast, Autumn fungi respond to warmth, moisture and organic substrates, independent of light.

Puffballs and coral fungi are favorite groups and they’ve been underfoot on most of my walks. Other notable encounters include the Fairy Cup fungus, American Caesar’s mushroom, Amanita mushrooms, and Chicken of the Woods bracket fungus.