Not today, but on Dec. 12th it was. And that was another day at the grasslands.
Most all the leaves on the Post Oaks fell on the night of the last rain at our house. I wonder if they have here as well. On the 12th however, most of the Post Oaks still had their fall coats (leaves) on.
Yellow Scale (Psora icterica) is a soil lichen. A place to look for it, is out in the open fields. It was damp morning so the algae layer was showing its colors through the upper cortex (skin). When it is dry it will be more yellowish in color.
The brown leaves are accented more brightly in the damp weather.
A spurthroated grasshopper nymph decided to hop on Suzanne’s hand!
The dew covered funnel spider’s web stood out amongst the leaf litter.
Perfect weather for locating the green damp lichens!
The Lepra lichen stands out to me even when dry. Of course, this one is wet so it is greenish from the algae. When it is dry, it will be gray with white edges. The edges are called a prothallus. Some other crustose lichens will have a black prothallus.
I wonder what the story here is? Why did it do a zig zag?
The wet and now soft shelf fungus climbed the tree!
An overhead view of the same fungus. More tomorrow from the Dec. 12th outing.
That Lepra lichen is so pretty!
The bent tree is curious.
Zig zag tree is cute!!