rowkey's Favorites

Female hatched from gall 16 days after being brought indoors. Females began hatching about 12 hours after males started. Separated from males due to larger size (one on left) and more round, larger abdomen with visible ovipositor.

Sharp-tailed Grouse x Greater Prairie-Chicken (hybrid), a taxon not in iNaturalist

Shows features of both species. Danced like a STGR and had a purple sac. Intermediate breast pattern between STGR and GPCH, overall darker than STGR with less white on the tail. Had strange stunted little horns. Attracted the attention of a female GPCH.

So I have solved the Rhodotus palmatus odor mystery! Field guides typically list it as having no odor. As it turns out, it’s actually the stinkiest mushroom I’ve ever come across, but only SOME people can smell it!

I had a sample and 20 willing, perhaps reluctant, participants. Of them, only myself and one little boy could smell it. It is a pungent, minty, chemically smell, reminiscent of camphor. (The little boy described it as peppermint.) It’s so strong I can smell it through a sealed ziplock baggie.

This was a first for me. This rare and unusual shaped fungus took me by surprise. This specimen stood around an inch (25 mm) tall. After spotting the first, I began to see them every where. All were found on decaying wood among the leaf litter. A neat find for sure! Found in dense woods on decaying wood among moist leaf litter.

Found in Douglas fir and Ponderosa pine dominant canopy in Spring. Younger specimens tend to look more like the Disney epcott center and do not develop long spines until full maturity. These were all collected and photographed on the same day(Spring of 2016) while foraging for natural morels(Morchella snyderi).

Found lots of these washed up on the beach at low tide this morning , some inside the cases along with plenty of empty cases. Look like mini transparent lobsters

I also made a short video on Youtube here https://youtu.be/ikoJm2_YtFI