The grasslands is such a wonderous place! And you just never know what you might see…
Does this not look like lips? So cool!
And it had a mouth full of dirt! Actually this was the first shot before we removed the dirt.
Here is the side shot to show that it is actually two mushrooms growing together. Also note that it had another white fungus growing on it. Fungus eating fungus. Does that make them cannibals?
Greenbriar corms!
Moss shines brightly in the sunlight!
We took a short detour up a side gully. And the foot of Mercury was jutting out of the bank. Did he make a wrong turn, this cleverest of all the Olympian gods?
Here is some crustose lichen on one of the rocks. This is the lichen that led us to Mercury’s foot. I have not worked on this yet to make an ID.
A knobby turtle maybe? You may see something different.
A polypore with lichens on a branch!
Beautiful green shelf fungus!
Babies!
Jeanne made it back here first. It was like a bowl. This is where I will stop today. There were cool features at the bowl which I will share tomorrow.
Lastly, an alert for today…Spring Beauties are blooming! Hope y’all had a wonderful Christmas day with family and/or friends!
Keep looking!
The more you know, the more you see and the more you see, the more you know.
9 Comments
You are on a roll. Mercurys foot and lips and turtle. I see all. Great pics. That place is just full of surprises.
The Grasslands are blowing you kisses! And no, not cannibalistic fungus in my opinion. It would have to be a species eating the same species for that. Fun post!
Wonderful stuff. The lips mushrooms are really neat.
I was thinking of you today Mary, how you like a slow pace and notice the little things in nature.
I was walking in our woods of ancient cedars contemplating some of the things I’m learning in a new book “Mountain Cedars, Wanted Dead of Alive”. Amazing info in this book especially for the Hill Country area relating historic plant coverage and early settler uses but also teaching about the various forms of Juniperus ashei. So as I was looking at all the cool shapes of cedar branches, blue gray fine lichen coverage on a dead live oak, north side only and moving around for different views, I neared my favorite oak in the back woods. As I looked up about 12-15 ft up in this oak there was a brown tail hanging down. It was one of our resident gray foxes. He scaled a live oak straight up to get to the crotch of limbs. This was not a leaning tree or with lots of branches. I stood in awe of how well a fox can climb and how blessed I was to get to walk up on one resting in that tree.
Reading your blogs puts me with people who pause and look and notice. Thank you Mary.
That is so wonderful! You have an amazing place with all the critters you find. You are blessed. I know you are a “slow” observer too! And thanks for sharing the book with us. It looks like a good one. I will have to add to my reading list. Looks like it is available on Barnes and Noble. Another book that Claire shared with me that might interest you is “American Serengeti, The Last Animals of the Great Plains” by Dan Flores. Thanks Kathy!
You are on a roll. Mercurys foot and lips and turtle. I see all. Great pics. That place is just full of surprises.
Around every corner 😉
The Grasslands are blowing you kisses! And no, not cannibalistic fungus in my opinion. It would have to be a species eating the same species for that. Fun post!
Suzanne, You are right!
How clever Suzanne
Wonderful stuff. The lips mushrooms are really neat.
I was thinking of you today Mary, how you like a slow pace and notice the little things in nature.
I was walking in our woods of ancient cedars contemplating some of the things I’m learning in a new book “Mountain Cedars, Wanted Dead of Alive”. Amazing info in this book especially for the Hill Country area relating historic plant coverage and early settler uses but also teaching about the various forms of Juniperus ashei. So as I was looking at all the cool shapes of cedar branches, blue gray fine lichen coverage on a dead live oak, north side only and moving around for different views, I neared my favorite oak in the back woods. As I looked up about 12-15 ft up in this oak there was a brown tail hanging down. It was one of our resident gray foxes. He scaled a live oak straight up to get to the crotch of limbs. This was not a leaning tree or with lots of branches. I stood in awe of how well a fox can climb and how blessed I was to get to walk up on one resting in that tree.
Reading your blogs puts me with people who pause and look and notice. Thank you Mary.
Wow, Kathy, that is SO COOL!
That is so wonderful! You have an amazing place with all the critters you find. You are blessed. I know you are a “slow” observer too! And thanks for sharing the book with us. It looks like a good one. I will have to add to my reading list. Looks like it is available on Barnes and Noble. Another book that Claire shared with me that might interest you is “American Serengeti, The Last Animals of the Great Plains” by Dan Flores. Thanks Kathy!
What a lovely day!