Exposed

Amazing tree roots:

At the edge of Black Creek, half creek bed, half intertidal zone, all the soil has washed away, exposing wandering roots.

Black Creek estuary. Miracle Beach starts to the right.

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Raices impresionantes: a la orilla del riachuelo "Black", donde sube la marea, el agua, llegando y yéndose, se ha llevado la tierra y la materia vegetal, dejando solamente arena fina. Y las raices de un árbol, expuestos al aire. Raices bien largas, por cierto.

Segunda foto: el estuario del riachuelo. Hacia la derecha empieza la playa "Milagro".

Shy squirrels

Beside a lonely trail winding through the Miracle Beach forest, I caught sight of a pair of small squirrels, the size of chipmunks, but without the chipmunk stripes. Unfortunately, they saw me first, took a quick look at me, and ran away. I got a few very bad photos, but I hadn't seen any of these here on the island, so I'm passing the best on.

Maybe a Douglas squirrel, Tamiasciurus douglasii. The second one is that brown spot in back.

It's possible they are the Red squirrels, Tamiasciurus hudsonicus. The two species are distinguished mainly by the colour of their bellies. Which I didn't see.

Red squirrels and Douglas squirrels are our native tree squirrels. They are approximately the same size, but about half the size of grey squirrels. Red squirrels are rusty-red in colour with white underparts. Douglas squirrels are reddish-brown with yellow underparts.

They both live in coniferous forests, not cities. The Douglas squirrel is found only on B.C.’s southern coast, while the red squirrel is found almost everywhere in B.C. with the exception of the southern coast. (BCSPCA)

E-Fauna adds that both species can be found on Vancouver Island.

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Al lado de un sendero solitario que vaga por el bosque cerca de Miracle Beach (Playa Milagrosa), vi una pareja de ardillas muy pequeñas, como del tamaño de una ardillita rayada (que no son ardillas sino del género Tamias). Mala suerte que ellos me vieron antes, se detuvieron unos segundos para mirarme, y luego se escondieron entre la hierba. Pude sacar unas cuantas fotos, todas muy malas, pero como no había visto estas ardillas aquí en la isla, subo la mejor de las fotos de todas maneras.

Puede ser una ardilla Douglas, Tamiasciurus douglasii. O tal vez una ardilla roja, T. hudsonicus. Las dos especies se distinguen por el color de la barriga. Lo que no pude ver.

"Las ardillas Rojas y las ardillas Douglas son nuestras ardillas de árbol nativas. Son aproximadamente del mismo tamaño, pero más o menos la mitad del tamaño de las ardillas grises.Las ardillas rojas son de un color rojo oxidado con las partes inferiores blancas. Las ardillas Douglas son rojizas con las barrigas amarillas.

Las dos viven en bosques coníferos, no en las ciudades. La ardilla Douglas se encuentra solamente en la costa del sur de BC, mientras que la ardilla roja se encuentra en casi todas partes de BC, menos en la costa del sur." (BCSPCA)

E-Fauna BC añade que las dos especies se hallan en la isla de Vancouver.

Palest pink corals

In this rainy season, there are always more mushrooms. These are corals:

This one has a slight pink tinge.

Almost pure white.

There are a variety of coral mushrooms in this area, all very similar, sometimes piggy-backing on each other, changing the colours. A note on the pink coral mushroom, Ramaria formosa, in my guide book says, "The striking pink coral mushroom complex is actually several similar species that are well known for being difficult to distinguish." The same goes for the other corals.

And another.

Distinguishing characteristics are the colour, the shape of the tips, maybe the texture. But mostly, microscopic details, not visible "in the wild".

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En esta temporada lluviosa, siempre hay hongos. Estos son hongos coralinos.

El primero tiene un tenue color de rosa.

Hay una variedad de hongos coralinos en este rumbo, todos muy similares. Algunos se combinan con otros de otra especie; los colores cambian. Una nota en mi libro guía adiverte: —El hongo coralino de color de rosa fuerte es en verdad varias especies parecidas que se sabe que son difíciles de distinguir. — Lo mismo se puede aplicar a los otros coralinos.

Las características que ayudan a identificarlos son el color, la forma de las puntas del hongo, tal vez la consistencia. Pero mayormente, son los detalles microscópicos, los cuales no se pueden ver "in situ".

Dancing antlers

More candlesnuff fungus, Xylaria hipoxylon, also known as carbon antlers or stag horn fungus.

In situ, on a broken piece of burnt wood, fallen onto a mossy log.

And, since the piece of wood was free, lifted into better light. I replaced it carefully afterwards.

This was in the woods back of Miracle Beach, right beside the trail. It's helpful when things co-operate like that.

The Latin name, Xylaria hypoxylon, means "below (hypo) wood (xylon)". It grows on old wood, but the bulk of the fungus is inside; what we see are the fruiting bodies, the spore-bearers.

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Aquí se ven más hongos candelabros, también conocidos como hongo de la vela, cornumenta al carbón, o las astas de cuervo. La primera foto los muestra en el sitio donde los encontré; en la segunda, yo había levantado su madera base para encontrar mejor luz. Después, todo lo volví a colocar exactamente como lo encontré.

Esto estaba en el bosque atrás de Miracle Beach, justo al lado del sendero. Me gusta cuando las cosas cooperan así.

Su nombre científico, Xylaria hypoxylon, significa "debajo (hypo) de la madera (xylon)". Crece en madera podrida, pero la mayor parte del hongo está adentro, o sea debajo de la superficie. Lo que vemos son los cuerpos fructíferos, donde se forman y diseminan las esporas.

Degrees of smallness

 Tiny

On log, Miracle Beach trails

Tinier

On rotted wood.

Tiniest

Dwarfed by the moss.

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Grados de pequeñez:

Pequeño, más pequeño, y el más pequeño de todos.

Honguitos en el bosque en Miracle Beach.

Mushroom in a tree

I left the shore at Miracle Beach and wandered through the woods, finding wide trails I hadn't visited before. The ground was still wet from the morning's rain, and there were mushrooms everywhere.

This one was up a tree.

Hooded false morel, aka Elfin saddle, Gyromitra infula.

This is another of the poisonous mushrooms to be aware of. It sort of looks like a morel, which is edible and delicious. But the false morel contains gyromitrin (named after the mushroom), which is converted in the body to MMH, a component of rocket fuels. Unfortunately, it doesn't make humans speedy.

Some of the morels must be cooked to become edible. It doesn't work for this one; even the fumes as it is cooked are toxic.

The cap of a real morel mushroom attaches directly to the stem, while the cap of a false morel grows around the stem. Real morel mushrooms are also hollow from top to bottom when cut in half, which varies from the filled nature of false morels. Finally, based on outward appearance, real morels are rather uniformly shaped and covered in pits that seem to fall inwards, whereas false morels are often considered more irregularly shaped with wavy ridges that seem to form outwards. (Wikipedia)

The mushroom grows on rotting or burnt wood. The forest in Miracle Beach is rich in both; many of the trees are blackened by the 1938 fire. The one sheltering the mushroom is a snag, burnt at the bottom, and rotting as it stands.

 

The mushroom's tree. Flash photo; it was dark down there in the woods.

The large holes have been dug by woodpeckers, searching for grubs.

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Me alejé de la playa en Miracle Beach, y vagué por los senderos en el bosque, donde no había visitado antes. El suelo estaba mojado por la lluvia mañanera, y había hongos en gran número por dondequiera.

Este crecía en un árbol.

Es la colmenilla falsa, o el hongo de silla de hadas, Gyromitra infula. Es un hongo venenoso, que se parece a otros hongos buenos para comer y delicioso. ¡Hay que tener cuidado! Este hongo contiene Gyromitrin (nombrado así por el hongo), que en el cuerpo humano se convierte in el compuesto tóxico monometilhidrazina, que se usa en combustibles para cohetes espaciales. A nosotros, no nos imparte velocidad, desafortunadamente.

Algunas de las colmenillas necesitan cocerse para hacerlos comestibles. Este método no sirve con la colmenilla falsa; aún los gases que emite mientras se cocina son tóxicos.

(De Wikipedia) El sombrerillo de una colmenilla verdadera se fija directamente al estipe, mientras que el sombrero de la colmenilla falsa crece alrededor del estipe. Las colmenillas verdaderas están completamente llenas, cortadas desde arriba para abajo; las colmenillas falsas están huecas. Finalmente, en su aparencia exterior, las colmenillas verdaderas tienen una forma más o menos regular, y están cubiertas de hoyos o pozuelos que caen para adentro, mientras que las falsas son irregulares y sus ondas parecen abultarse para afuera.

Este hongo crece en madera quemada o podrida. Aquí en el bosque de Miracle Beach, muchos de los árboles tienen la corteza quemada, a raiz del incendio del año 1938. El árbol donde crece este hongo está quemado y también bien podrido. Se ha convertido en "vela", un árbol muerto que se mantiene de pie. Las excavaciones a lo largo del tronco las han hecho los pájaros carpinteros, buscando insectos.

Why is it ...

That some Oregon grape leaves turn bright red in the winter, but not others?

Oregon grape, Mahonia nervosa*, Miracle Beach.

I always thought it was because of the cold. But here's a red Oregon grape plant; less than a metre away is a clump of green plants. No red to be seen. An effect of a mini-climate, with freezing winds blowing just here, and by-passing the cluster of plants a step away?

*I identify this as Mahonia nervosa, "Dull" Oregon grape, so called because it's not quite as shiny as the tall Oregon grape, Mahonia aquifolium. Both are common in this area, and at first glance look alike, but the "Dull" grows to about waist height, whereas the "tall" grape can be a couple of metres high.

And the leaves are different.** M. aquifolium's leaves have one central vein, with other veins branching out from it. M. nervosa, this one, has a strong central vein, and then fainter veins branching out from the base of the leaf. Look closely at the photo above; the secondary veins are visible. (See E-Flora's photo.)

**I didn't know this until I was poking around to see if I could find an explanation for the difference in colours.

The birds have flown

Bird's nest fungi ...

On a downed branch. Probably white barrel bird's nest, Nidula niveotomentosa

On the ground, in moss. One "egg" may still be in the one on the top right.

The nests are called "peridia" ("peridium" in the singular), and serve as splash cups; when raindrops strike the nest, the eggs (called "peridioles") are projected into the air, where they latch onto twigs, branches, leaves, and so on. (MushroomExpert.com)

Missing the target

An interesting arrangement of lichen.

On a rotted log, half buried under salal bushes.

The lichen has invaded the old sap wood, but left the heartwood and bark intact.

Miracle Beach Provincial Park

Would make a good dancer's skirt.

Turkey-tail mushrooms on an old log at Miracle Beach.

With "feathers" around the rims. And a maple seed.

These mushrooms come in many colours, from blue-grey to green and brown, to purplish, to orange, to a dull beige. I found another couple of groups in the same area; one was almost completely covered in green algae; another, growing in deep shade, was about the colour of the bark in the photo above.

This variation is what gave them their scientific name, Trametes versicolor, meaning, "Thin, of several colours."

Old burn

In the summer of 1938, Vancouver Island sweltered through the longest drought seen for over 50 years. Sparks from logging operations set off dozens of small brush fires. Smoke hung over the hills.

Fire broke out in a log pile on Menzies Bay, just north of Campbell River, and leapt into the forest. A couple of days later, in spite of the 400 firefighters trying to quench it, it was burning over several thousand acres of timber. By the third day, it was threatening Campbell River, and racing up-river, past Elk Falls. The smoke rose two kilometres into the air, and covered almost two-thirds of Vancouver Island.

The fire headed south then, passing Campbell River, racing towards Comox, and east up the mountainsides to Mount Washington. 2000 men fought it, hopelessly. 470 square kilometres of forest were in flames, and the wind was picking up. At times, it reached 150 km/hr.

And then the rain came. The blessed, drenching West Coast rain, pouring down steadily for weeks. In the ancient forest off Elma Bay, these days called the Miracle Beach Provincial Park, the roaring blaze sizzled into damp coals.

Some say that's how Miracle Beach got its name.

Today, many of the older trees in Miracle Beach Provincial Park still wear the scars of that fire.

Survivor, still green up top.

Older Douglas-fir bark is thick and deeply grooved, providing habitat for many insects and nesting sites and groceries for birds and small animals. And old, damaged bark is even more hospitable. This old tree still retains some old scorch marks; it looks like most has been riddled by insects and then birds collecting insects.

The crevices go deep into the tree; I tried to light the bottom of several holes with the camera's flash, but the light didn't reach that far.

Near the centre of the section above, if you look closely, you'll see a white circle. I moved in to get a better look.

"Come into my parlor ..."

A spider hole, wide enough for a chickadee to wander in.

From another angle

I can't be sure; is that a spider lurking deep inside, or just blotchy patches in the bark? I didn't risk sticking a finger in to find out.

For comparison: a pair of unburnt Douglas-fir trunks. Grooved, but much neater.

And the remains of a smaller tree, after the woodpeckers have eaten their fill.

Tall

The forest at Miracle Beach is mostly Douglas-fir, with a mixture of Western hemlock, Sitka spruce, and Big-leaf maple, and the ubiquitous red alder. It is second-growth forest; it has been logged off once, and once(that we know about; we are newcomers in tree years)  ravaged by fire, so most of the trees are relatively young, but a few of the older Douglas-firs are still standing.

These are tall trees; a mature Douglas-fir can be as much as 100 metres high, at least here on the coast. Inland, they are shorter.

In comparison, the Western hemlock grows normally to 50 metres, occasionally to 60.

I took a series of photos of one tree, and stacked them. I don't know how tall these ones are; the trunks are less than one metre in diameter. A normal width for a fully mature tree could be almost 3 metres.

Foreshortened from my viewpoint at its foot.

The trunk of an older Douglas-fir is branch-free for most of its length, with the foliage in a clump at the top. The bark is thick and deeply grooved. Look for the burl towards the bottom on this tree.

Looking  straight up from the same general area.

Tall, tiny, tiniest

Yesterday (Friday) was bright and sunny, if still chilly. I wandered through the tall, shadowy forest at Miracle Beach, poking through the moss, peering under logs and down crevices in bark.

A corner of the forest. Douglas-firs, mostly.

Old, moldy Douglas Fir cone, with "mouse tails".

I turned over a broken branch, half covered by moss, exposing a small community of critters and fungi.

White, feathery mold. And a large pupal case, also coated in mold.

I was looking at the pupal case, wondering if the mold would have killed the critter inside, when something reddish dashed out from underneath and ran away. I chased it with the camera.

A very tiny spider. The sowbug is about 1/2 cm. long. The spider, legs and all is less than that; her body is about 2 or 3 mm., fangs to spinnerets. She was panicking; running back and forth, not seeming to be able to decide where to hide.

What I didn't see, until I got home and blew up the photos, were a few tinier red mites, and possibly a much smaller spider. On the red mite just below the grass bits, I can just barely see a leg. In other photos, the mites show up, but never in the same location; they were moving fairly fast, because I was taking photos as fast as I could follow the spider.

And then there were those other things; hundreds of them.

Or thousands? Each one has a dark spot, maybe an indentation, in the centre. If the spider is 3 mm. long, these would be 1/2 a millimetre at most. A dusting of miniature cup or birds' nest fungi?

Another sowbug. And two mini-sowbugs (top left).

And this time, on the way home, I counted 18 eagles, all adults. (The immatures are harder to see; they lack the white head, and their feathers are brownish and mottled. They blend in to the scenery.)

Tomorrow; fungi, I think. Or tree trunks. Or ... I brought home over 200 photos to sort and process.

Teeth and hair

One more item from the moss walk: some hairy, toothy mushrooms on a tree.

Unidentified small shelf mushrooms. Soft, spiky haired on top, toothy on the underside.

A better look at the teeth.

I've searched my guide and a few mushroom sites on the web, and haven't found this. Does anyone recognize it?

Skinny leaves and stretchy cords

Where there is moss in our coastal forests, there is also lichen. I am fascinated by its myriad forms; so intriguing!

Here are some of the photos taken on the moss walk, identified only to general type.

This would be a leaf lichen. Shrub lichens have cylindrical stems; this has flattened stems, like skinny leaves.

Another skinny leaf lichen.

A ruffled leaf, or rag lichen. (Ragbag?)

Appressed leaf lichen. 

A hairy, "beard" lichen, fallen in great clumps from the trees above.

Fuzzy photo through a wet lens. Usnea sp.

This lichen genus (Usnea) is easily identified (to genus, anyhow) by the tough central cord. Our guide is demonstrating here. The cord is elastic; if you pull gently on both ends, it stretches out visibly, uncoiling. Release it, and it springs back.

I brought home a sample. I just re-tested what's left of it, dry and stiff after a week in a bag. It still stretches.

A bit of everything, all growing together. At least four lichens, yellowish shelf mushrooms with purple borders, two mosses, and salal leaves, on a dead branch.

More mixed lichens on an evergreen branch. The recent wet weather brought down many branches from overhead; usually these are out of reach.

This week, I walked most of the Ripple Rock trail, and brought back more moss and lichen photos, as well as some interesting spiders and mushrooms. Then I flipped rocks on the Tyee Spit beach at low tide; a treasure trove! I don't know which I'll post first; all the photos call out to be processed, "now! Me first!"

These shelf fungi are black

Black. Midnight black. Shined shoe leather black.

Black polypores dwarfing the stump they're growing on.

I think this may be a Ganoderma sp., but any photos I find of them on the web are labelled only "Black bracket fungus". They seem to have a pale lip, maybe the edge of a light underside, but I couldn't get close enough to see that.

Dripping

The rain had used up the water reserves in the clouds, and was reduced to a sporadic sprinkle when we started on the moss walk. That was out in the clear; under the trees, masses of moss overhead substituted for clouds, holding the water for a while, then dropping large blobs on our heads - splat!

A handful of wet moss can feel almost dry, until you squeeze it; then water gushes out.

I was glad I was carrying only the pocket camera; it's easier to keep dry, and cheaper, in case it's ruined. Within five minutes inside the forest, I had to start drying the lens between shots; many were blurry. And before we finished the circuit, the camera just plain refused to take any more photos. An hour in the warmth beside a wood stove, with its innards exposed to the air, fixed it; it works again. Whew!

This sampler of moss photos are no-name-brand; I haven't been able to identify them with any confidence.

The woods were hairy, dark, and deep. (Sorry, Robert Frost!)

And lumpy.

A different variety of lumps. With leaf lichen and infant Cladonia in the open spaces.

Wet country. Even the sign is wet.

Dead but still standing; a tall stump carries the black shelf fungi that killed it. One of the naturalists on the walk is properly dressed for the weather; Tilley hat and rubber rain gear.

Another stump, well rotted, full of woodpecker holes, with a crown of dangling moss.

At least three different mosses here, with last year's maple leaves, and fresh new buds on a twig.

Almost looks like electrified cats' tail again. With leaf lichens.

Leafy moss with sporophytes. The ripe ones are red; green sporophytes are immature. Raindrops run down some of the stalks. (Aka setae.)