Underfoot, up a tree, on a log

In the open areas of the Oyster Bay little forest, reindeer lichen is sprinkled over logs and moss, never in huge mounds like I see in other places; just a few inches deep, in handfuls or even individual "shrubs".

Reindeer lichen, Cladina portentosa?, and moss.

I walked to the dike overlooking the bay and down to the old apple tree. At this time of year, it is decorated with handfuls of hanging leaf lichen and buttons on the trunk and larger branches.

Antlered perfume lichen, maybe. Evernia sp., anyhow. And bark barnacles.

On the old landmark log, I found mosses. And something else.

Tiny, jewel-like moss, a yellow-green moss, spider webs (I couldn't find the spider) and the start of a leaf lichen. And what are those white sticks on the upper left? They almost look like ice crystals. Could be.

Sunset will be at 5:00 this afternoon! A milestone!

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En las areas más abiertas del bosquecito de Oyster Bay, el liquen de los renos, Cladina sp., crece salpicado sobre los troncones y el musgo. Nunca, aquí, forma grandes cojines como los que veo en otros sitios; aquí apenas llega a unos cuantos centímetros de altura, en pequeños grupos o aun solitarios.

Primera foto: este liquen sobre musgos.

Fui hasta el dique que bordea la laguna y hasta el viejo manzano. En esta época del año está adornado solamente con líquenes foliosas y botoncitos en la corteza del tronco y las ramas mayores.

Segunda foto: una rama del manzano con sus botoncitos (a los que llamamos bálanos de corteza) y el liquen folioso, Evernia sp.

En el viejo troncón encontré musgos. Y algo más.

Tercera foto: musgos que parecen joyas miniaturas, además, un musto verde/amarillo, telarañas (pero no pude encontrar la araña) y un liquen folioso recién brotado. ¿Y esos palos blancos en la esquina superior a la izquierda? Casi parecen cristales de hielo. Podría ser.

¡Y el sol se pondrá esta tarde a las 5! ¡Feliz!

Last of the light

The sun came out, the sky was blue. Sunset was just before 5 PM. I made it to Oyster Bay on time to watch the light fade.

About 5:15 PM. Orange-tinted clouds and ducks settling in for the night.

Mini-lake on the top of a log.

The last photo: I take this photo almost every visit.

Day settings, Jan. 22: Sunrise, 8:07, sunset, 4:58. Coming up to 9 hours of daylight!

I was in time to find a few lichens and mosses. Photos tomorrow.

A Skywatch post.

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Salió el sol. ¡Hasta hubo cielo azul! El sol se ponía un poco antes de las 5; alcancé a llegar a Oyster Bay con tiempo para ver los últimos rayos anaranjados.

Fotos:

1. Oyster Bay, a las 5 y cuarto; nubes entintados y patos dormidos.
2. Un "laguito" encima de un troncón viejo, reflejando el cielo.
3. La última foto de la tarde; saco esta foto en casi cada visita.

El horario del dia ahora: el 22 de enero, el sol aparecerá a las 8:07, y se pone a ls 4:58. ¡Casi 9 horas de luz tendremos ya!

Llegué a tiempo para encontrar unos líquenes y musgos. Mañana subo fotos.

Un post para Skywatch, donde encontrarás fotos del cielo al dia desde el mundo entero.

Calm

 Still life with stones.

Top of the old log at Oyster Bay.

Meanwhile, BC burns. Again. I'm just resting my eyes here, after obsessively zooming in on the Wildfire dashboard, watching new sites pop up. Rain! We need rain!

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Foto: naturaleza muerta, con piedras. Encima del tronco viejo de Oyster Bay.

Mientras tanto, se está quemando la provincia. Otra vez. Aquí me detengo para descansar la vista un poco después de horas pasadas examinando el panel de incendios, mientras cada vez aparecen nuevos focos de incendio.

¡Necesitamos lluvia!

Pink lace petticoats

A very old-fashioned mushroom, with frilly white skirts rucked up to show off the pink lace beneath; this one always looks out of place, growing as it does, on wet, stained, old wood.

Common Split Gill mushroom, Schizophyllum commune

When the weather is dry, it folds those lace petticoats underneath to conserve moisture. In wet weather, (which we've been having plenty of) it fans out again.

The same mushroom, with another, smaller one.

Schizophyllum commune is easily recognized. Its tiny fruiting bodies lack stems, and they attach themselves like tiny bracket fungi on the dead wood of deciduous trees. Unlike a bracket fungus, however, Schizophyllum commune has what appear to be gills on its underside, rather than pores or a simple, flat surface. On close inspection the "gills" turn out to be merely folds in the undersurface--and they are very distinctively "split" or "doubled" (enlarge the illustrations). (Mushroom Expert.com)

This mushroom grows all around the world, year-round, so there are many photos on the internet. However, almost all of them show the underside, the split "gills". Even my trusty Guide shows only photos taken from underneath. A pity; those lacy skirts are too glorious to be passed by like that!

Spots on a log

Beside the path on Tyee Spit, there's a big, old log. I walk past it, barely giving it a quick glance; old wood, holes and cracks, small patches of moss, weeds trying to get a footing; nothing much to see, I think.

I was wrong. I stopped to look at a dusting of yellow jellies, and discovered much more.

Yellow and orange jellies. And three white dots.

I wondered about the white dots, and went around the log, taking photos of dots; spots too small for my eyes to distinguish details. The camera sees better than I do. See:

Bird's nest fungi!

I don't know what to call these. Cups full of rising dough?

Could this be one of the same species? And the hole where one broke off?

Could these be related to the cannonball fungus, which grows its spores in a ball and expels the whole ball with force (up to 17 ft. away) when they're ripe?

Yellow fingers. The largest is about 1/4 inch long.

A different kind of bird's nest fungi. With Cladonia lichen.

It's raining again. Cats, dogs, and the occasional small fish. And I've discovered another prime mushroom site. Rain, rain, go away! Please!

More Tyee Spit mushrooms tomorrow.