Ground Control to Major 'Shroom

The mushroom situation is wonderfully out of control this wet, cool summer. It's hard to describe the joy of entering the woods and finding the place popping with fungus. It's been many a year since I've seen this much action!
And it's not just the woods—it's the fields, the lawns, the roadside. Inky caps, fairy rings, dryad saddle, golden fairy spindle, green jelly babies, sticky violet cort, destroying angel, wrinkled milky, fuzzy foot, shaggy mane, Jack O' Lantern—even the names are exciting.I'm working diligently with my field guides to learn some of them; it's surprisingly easy—not! (At least I've learned to tell my boletes from my polypores and my amanitas from my russulas.)
One thing I will say is that mycologists can write; some of the wittiest field guides I've read are the mushroom guides. Must have something to do with the irony inherent in all those gorgeously bedecked toxins. (At the moment I'm particularly enjoying Bill Russell's informative and unpretentious Field Guide to Wild Mushrooms of Pennsylvania and the Mid-Atlantic.)

Here are some of my recent finds—all taken over the past week or so.

As if from nowhere...

In August, these big, special spiders appear from out—seemingly—of nowhere.

And these mushrooms—with the glimmering world behind them—pop up overnight.

From whence come these specimens of Life Force, and who are we to interfere with their Comings and Goings? And their Staying, on this, the shared and sacred land?

Dept. of the Pathetic

Give me a blinkity-blink break. Cough.

Berry Picking or Sitting at Desk?

Berry Picking or Sitting at Desk?
Berry Picking or Sitting at Desk?
Berry Picking or Sitting at Desk?

'Twas a tough decision; I did what had to be done.


Thanks to the honeybees, wasps, flies, moths and other pollinators who make such delicacies possible.

Recent Things (Early August)

Gummi and phlox.

Deer up the road.

Unidentified violet mushroom.

Goldenrod beginning to bloom.

Ripening berries.

Amanita mushroom.

Red eft by yellow clover.

Bluejay feather in puddle.

Spring Azure.

Jellyfish in a Coalmine

From this week's New York Times article, Stinging Tentacles Offer Hint of Oceans' Decline:

“These jellyfish near shore are a message the sea is sending us saying, ‘Look how badly you are treating me,’” said Dr. Josep-María Gili, a leading jellyfish expert, who has studied them at the Institute of Marine Sciences of the Spanish National Research Council in Barcelona for more than 20 years.

The explosion of jellyfish populations, scientists say, reflects a combination of severe overfishing of natural predators, like tuna, sharks and swordfish; rising sea temperatures caused in part by global warming; and pollution that has depleted oxygen levels in coastal shallows.

A Bitter Pill from Bayer

A highly worthwhile article appeared in the L.A. Times on July 30th regarding the possible link between the "disappearing honeybees" (Colony Collapse Disorder) and Bayer pesticides. Here's a taste:

"It's likely that most people have never heard of Gaucho. And no, it's not a South American cowboy. I'm talking about a pesticide.

"There is increasing reason to believe that Gaucho and other members of a family of highly toxic chemicals -- neonicotinoids -- may be responsible for the deaths of billions of honeybees worldwide. Some scientists believe that these pesticides, which are applied to seeds, travel systemically through the plant and leave residues that contaminate the pollen, resulting in bee death or paralysis. The French refer to the effect as 'mad bee disease' and in 1999 were the first to ban the use of these chemicals, which are currently only marketed by Bayer (the aspirin people) under the trade names Gaucho and Poncho. Germany followed suit this year, and its agricultural research institute said it concluded that the poisoning of the bees was because of the rub-off of the pesticide clothianidin (that's Pancho) from corn seeds.

So why did the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2002 grant an 'emergency' exemption allowing increased use of Gaucho -- typically invoked during a major infestation -- when only a few beetles were found in blueberries? Why did the agency also grant a "conditional" registration for its close relative, Pancho, allowing the chemical on the market with only partial testing? And why is the agency, hiding behind a curtain of "trade secrets," still refusing to disclose whether the additional tests required of companies in such cases were conducted and, if so, with what results?

"Therein lies a tale. Most pesticides, we're told, are safe. So we add about 5 billion pounds a year of these deadly chemicals to our world, enough to encircle the planet if it were packaged in 100-pound sacks...."

Excerpted from Buzzzzzzzz kill by Al Meyerhoff, Los Angeles Times, July 30, 2008

Read the whole important thing right here.