Oh, to have the energy of a 5-year-old!

Little girl with balloon, not slowing down to notice an adult with a camera...
I could use some of that zip, kiddo. ... Please? ...

Looks like she's not going to lend me any. Oh, well...

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One of the main things I learned, doing the Bioblitz, was just how much I don't know. I'm fine with the bigger things and the general categories; I know the difference between a cedar and a fir; I don't confuse buffleheads and coots, even at a distance. But when it comes to the picky details, I find myself limited to writing "Moss # 1, Moss # 2", or "white lichen, grey lichen, grey lichen #2". And beetles are beetles are beetles, differing only by colour, size and broad pattern.

So much to learn!

And there are so many marvels yet to be seen, if only my eyes were better trained!

I've been re-reading Robin Wall Kimmerer's "Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses". A beautiful small book, well-written, a pleasure to pick up and open at any page.

(Which I just did, this minute, and read, where the page fell open, "The shape of the water is changed by the moss and the moss is shaped by the water." Our relationship to our environment in a nutshell. Or should I say, sporophyte?)

I've been reading the 12th section, titled, "City Mosses". She writes about Silvery Bryum, Bryum argenteum, a tiny moss adapted to dry cliff faces and seabird rookeries that finds our vertical cities stained with pigeon droppings perfectly acceptable "cliffy" environments. It can be found in any city, from Hong Kong to New York to Quito; it travels with us. Next time I'm in downtown Vancouver, I will be looking for it.

And in the meantime, I think I have some studying to do.

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One more of those things that gets labelled "Lichen #2": this one was on the pathway near the cabin where we stayed at Chase Creek, in BC's interior. We haven't been able to find a name for it. Do you recognize it?
That was resized, for easy loading. Here is a detail section, at 100% (after you click on it, of course). I can see some tiny cup-like structures on the top of the "leaves".
Spore cases? Or what?