R: YMCA GHOs.
Today I spent some time in The Presidio to 1) check on some of the mushrooms we saw during the Fungi Walk program I led last Saturday, and 2) do my Owl Nest Monitoring duties.
The Fungi Walk program on Saturday went very well! And this was in a newtous area that we scoped a year ago. We found some notyetmature species that I was hoping to see more developed today. And maybe even pull for ID…
Alas.
The sweet little Blewit we saw along the trail didn’t look much bigger, oddly. And even MORE odd was that a LARGER Blewit was near it! Like it just popped out of nowhere and grew like crazy in 2 days!
Wasn’t able to get any closer to the Elfin Saddles we saw through the fence at the Presidio Trust maintenance yard. Dang Pacific Poison Oak was protecting it. But my digital camera snapped some photos through the fence to put on iNat. Both it and Seek believe it’s a Western Black Elfin Saddle. And I’ve only seen Elfin Saddles below Oaks before (I think?), so this was fun to learn that they dig Pine trees, too!
Also spotted some bright orange Fungi (Orange Rock Hair, perhaps?) along the way that I’m fairly certain was NOT THERE on Saturday.
Onto my nest duties.
That same Great Horned Owl pair I saw last time I was out there was in the same Cypress. Roosting side by side. Aw. They so rarely do that, I feel! TONS of owl pellets below. Even a fresh one. They so favor that tree right now.
Spotted some Fungi here and there during my duties, too. Maybe some Tall Psathyrella? Shelf Fungi of some kind? Even a Wolf Spider and Red-shouldered Hawk. All of it made it feel a lot more like a Naturing outing than just an Owl Nest Monitoring outing. Which was nice. Given how little time I have these days for such things.
A small GHO feather was under the nest tree behind the YMCA from last year. Hm!
Then it was onto Barnard Ave. Down the stairs from Funston to Fernandez (should call that the Funandez Steps!), I spotted a HUGE mushroom off the stair path! Some Agaricus-looking thing, that actually had similar coloring and expected size of a rusty brown thing we spotted on the Fungi Walk, was so dang big that an older woman walking past me stopped to see what the heck it was I was holding!
On Barnard, two GHOs were duet-hooting near the nest tree on my list. And I watched one fly out onto a branch and stay there for a bit. Preening. Doing that wing and leg stretch I love so much to see.
But I only had so much time with enough light to check out the Ecology Trail, so off I went. And while I didn’t hear or see anything at my nest spot, I headed South on the trail and came to the first Coast Redwood Grove. Where a GHO pair started to duet-hoot!
The male was deep in the Redwoods, but the female was in a tree on the trail. Unobscured. Hooting almost above me. SO COOL.
She eventually flew off a bit. And it soon got too dark to stick around.
But on my way back, I spotted one of the Barnard Ave. GHOs. Perched on a branch overlooking the area below it. And I just stood looking at it wondering how it was possible SO MANY GHO pairs were in such close proximity to each other! There must be SO MANY rodents around.
It was time to head home. And I walked back up the Funandez Steps, noting that huge mushroom I had pulled and left where I found it. The streetlight light was directly on it and the area. And I wondered if mushrooms that are under night lighting like that will release spores? Hm! I wonder!
I’m also wondering if all these GHO pairs will have owlets this year. And if so, I’ll know where their nests are! Which means, I’d have an AMAZING GHO program to lead quite soon… EXCITING!
Hi Karen – I didn’t know this was an email newsletter format. Just signed up! The bottom right picture looks like Dryads Saddle to me. Also known as Pheasant Back. Shelf polypore that grows on rotting wood. They’re good eating if you get them young and bugs haven’t found them. They show up in Michigan in early spring, a little before morel season. Anyway, I look forward to future editions :). Hope you guys are doing well!
Kelly of the Michigan Markley’s,
And fellow mushroom enthusiast
thanks for reading, kelly! you can read it in email or the website.
still haven’t received an ID on iNat for that one, but it looks like an Agaricus to me. or a Deer Mushroom. hopefully i’ll get an ID! we don’t typically get mushrooms that big around here, except for some Fly Agarics….
enjoying the fungi season so much these days! hope you and yours are well, too.
Hi Karen, I’ve not heard of iNat! Do you submit photos or some other criteria for identification? A couple months to go here before we see any mushrooms – can’t wait!
Kelly
kelly, let me introduce you to iNaturalist (the app and website) – https://www.inaturalist.org/. it is a community-driven database of natural world observations. intended to track data on species (of all/any kind) observed in the wild. anything planted is generally not paid much attention, unless it’s part of a restoration site where the plants will continue to spread on their own. it is one of my favorite things in the world, and i’ve learned so much about what i see in nature from it. you can even follow certain people to see their observations (which i do), as well as follow specific species or even species in specific areas. for instance, i follow every Owl observation in the bay area.
you can submit photos or audio recordings in order to have any chance of getting someone to confirm (or deny) the ID. the more angles of photos, the better. for fungi, you absolutely need to photograph the underside. of pretty much any fungi. specifically, the attachment of the cap’s underside to the stem.
to give you a sense of what fungi has been observed where you are that is Research Grade (enough IDs to consider it Identified, which number can vary depending on the type of thing you observed), take a look at this -> https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?nelat=43.42972&nelng=-86.34574789999999&quality_grade=research&subview=table&swlat=43.390609&swlng=-86.376044&verifiable=any&iconic_taxa=Fungi