Promise deferred

I was hoping for bears. They had promised me bears. Well, sort of; my friends were going to show me where they had seen several black bears in the Quinsam River a couple of  days before.

The Quinsam River is a short stream that flows into the Campbell River, 20 km. long, as the crow flies, over 40 as it winds down from two small lakes. Good fishing; there are salmon and trout; where we looked down into the water, the salmon jostled each other in the shallow water, big fish, mostly heading upriver to spawn. And where there are spawning salmon, there are bears, fattening up for the winter sleep.

We saw no bears.

But there were pretty green and yellow banana slugs.

Banana slug, Ariolimax columbianus, and moss on a halfway fallen tree.

And even a butterfly.

Cabbage white butterfly, Pieris rapae, female. (The females have 2 black spots on the forewings.)

It was a beautiful fall day, raining off and on, but the sun shone even through the rain, and the wet forest glistened.

Bottom to top: salal, huckleberry, big-leaf maple, evergreens.

And there were mushrooms everywhere.

Pholiota sp. on a well-aged alder log.

Coral mushroom. 

An unidentified small mushroom, draped in spider web, growing on a snag.

But no bears. I'll just have to go back another day.

I still have another dozen or so photos of mushrooms from that walk to process. Coming up next.

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Quería ver osos. Me habían prometido osos. Bueno, más o menos; mis amigos se ofrecieron a llevarme a donde habían visto los osos en el rio Quinsam hacía dos dias.

El rio Quinsam es un rio corto, tributario del rio Campbell. Corre por 20 kilómetros si se mide en linea recta, unos 40 kilómetros en verdad, bajando serpenteante desde un par de lagos del mismo nombre. La pesca es buena; hay salmones y truchas; donde nos detenimos para mirar el agua, gran número do salmones se retorcían, haciendo que el agua pareciera estar hirviendo. Eran peces grandes, apurándose para llegar a su zona de desove. Y donde hay peces en desove (época de reproducción), hay osos acumulando reservas para los meses de hibernación.

No vimos ningún oso.

Pero hubo babosas "plátano", muy bonitas, vestidas en amarillo y verde:

1. Babosa Ariolimax columbianus en un tronco medio caído.
2. Y una mariposa Pieris rapae. Las hembras tienen las dos manchas negras en cada ala anterior.
3. Era un dia lindo de otoño; llovía en momentos, pero el sol seguía penetrando las nubes aun mientras llovía, y el agua en las hojas del bosque centelleaban.
4. Y por dondequiera había hongos. Estos son del género Pholiota.
5. Hongo coral.
6. Hongo sin identificación creciendo en un tronco muerto.

Pero no vimos osos. Total: tendré que regresar otro dia.

Me quedan sin procesar otra docena de fotos de hongos de ese dia. Ya vendrán.

Two for the price of one

I almost missed these; they're so tiny, and they hide in the duff in the dimness of the conifer forest. I saw the first clump when I moved a fern branch to look at another mushroom.

White coral fungus, Clavulina coralloides. About 5 cm. tall.

An even smaller one. Another fungus, Helminthospaeria clavariarum, sometimes parasitizes these coral mushrooms, giving then a bluish tint.

These are edible, they say. Not exactly delicious, and too tiny to bother with, I would think. And besides, if they've been parasitized, they're poisonous. It's like my Mom always said in stores (and the forest is a storehouse of delights), "Look, but don't touch!"

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Casi pasé sin ver estos honguitos; son pequeñitos, y se esconden entre la hojarasca en la penumbra bajo los abetos. Solo vi los primeros cuando arrimé una fronda de los helechos perennes para mirar otro hongo.

1. Hongo coralino blanco, Clavulina coralloides. Mide alrededor de 5 cm. de altura.
2. Otro más chico. Otro hongo, Helminthospaeria clavariarum, es un parásito que a veces invade el hongo coralino, impartiéndole un tinte azulado.

Estos hongos son comestibles, dicen. No tienen gran sabor, y son tan pequeños; no vale la pena cosecharlos, creo. Y además, si vienen con el hongo parásito, son venenosos. Es como decía siempre mi mamá en las tiendas (y el bosque está lleno de delicias, más que las tiendas), — ¡Mira, pero no toques! 

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".

Corals and tuning forks

It's that time of year again. It rains several times every week; one of these days, the rain will turn to snow. The lawn and the car windows are white with frost in the mornings, but it melts as soon as the sun hits it. Or the rain starts again; whichever comes first.

It's mushroom season! Wherever I go, I find them this week.

On the Elk Falls trail, I found these coral mushrooms:

Clavulina cristata, the crested coral mushroom. With alder leaf for size comparison.

There were several clumps of these. Its branch tips are often split, "crested".

This one, a little to the side of the larger ones clearly shows the crested tips.

A smaller one, peeking out from under ferns.

And a bit further up the trail, there were orange ones:

This one is the yellow tuning fork, Calocera viscosa. Again, the shape of the tips identifies it.

The tips split into two, sometimes repeatedly.

It has received the name "tuning fork" because of this split, and has also been called the yellow staghorn, comparing it to antlers. Tiny antlers on tiny deer: this fungus grows to about 10 cm. above ground. The underground portion is larger, and white. (I didn't dig it up to see.)

These two made my day, but there are still another dozen or so other mushroom photos from that trail to be processed. And more from the museum grounds, and then from Baikie Island. Its a good mushroom year!

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Y ahora es la temporada de hongos. Llueve varias veces por semana, y hace frío; el jardín y las ventanas del coche están cubiertos de escarcha en la mañana, aunque se derrita en cuanto le pega el sol. O viene la lluvia, según el día. Entre las hojas caídas, brotan hongos por todos lados.

Encontré estos en el camino hacia las cataratas de Elk Falls. El hongo blanco es el "coral con corona", llamado así por las puntas divididas de cada rama.

El hongo anaranjado se llama comunmente el diapasón, por las puntas divididas en dos. También se le llama "staghorn", cornamenta de venado. El hongo crece hasta más o menos 10 centímetros de alto, pero la porción escondida bajo la tierra es bastante más grande. Y blanco. (No los desenterré para ver; vi una foto aquí.)

En seguida subiré otros hongos de ese mismo camino, una docena o más, y luego otras docenas de otras partes. Parece que va a ser un buen año para hongos.

Beside Woodhus Slough

The annual winter Comox Valley Trumpeter Swan count started again a few weeks ago. My group this year will be surveying the Woodhus Slough once a week until the end of March, following a path that skirts the shore side of the slough.

The trail goes from Salmon Point Marina to the Oyster River estuary. 

The official public trail crosses the slough before it turns towards the shore, but this year, with all the steady rain we've been having, that part of the trail is completely flooded.

Only the tops of the fence posts along the trail are visible.

This area, in other years, has been open field. There are a few ducks, mallards and pintails, at the far side.

It is a pleasant walk, but we have seen few birds. Someone was out hunting; we heard the shots, and the distant clamour of Canada geese as they fled the area. A large flock of snow geese flew overhead, circled a couple of times, and left. And there have been no swans yet.

But there are mushrooms everywhere; showy amanitas, small brown umbrellas, wine-red Russulas (I think), and more.

Amanitas:

Fly agaric. Orange or red cap, with remnants of the veil, white gills and stem, with more veil shreds.

An almost clear cap, but the obvious "skirt" of the torn veil around the stalk.

Another, with reindeer lichen. I don't know if this is the same species; some Amanitas are edible. But I'm not experimenting, because others are extremely toxic.

Typical fly agaric. Deadly poison, but very pretty.

Almost colourless.

Apple-red mushrooms:

Red caps, white stalks and gills.

Tempting.

Clean, white gills and stalk. No traces of a veil.

And another pink mushroom:

Unidentified. There were only a few of these.

And a patch of white coral fungus:

These are growing on a pile of crumbling logs, covered in moss.

Each clump is about the size of my (small) fist.

And a bit more lichen. These are everywhere; on logs, on bare soil, on moss.

Arrow tip to tip is about 2 km.