Swamp treasures of the prehistoric kind. Okay, so I found the shells on Tuesday...but they were still sitting on my desk today.
Lycoperdon pyriforme, Wolf-fart Puffball. Why wolf-fart? I don't have an answer for that :) You'd have to ask a mycologist.
This limb is just outside my office window. What makes it significant you might wonder. Nothing, I just like it. Some days it is full of birds stopping for a rest, other days it might find itself host to a gray squirrel munching on a pilfered fungus.
Bad light and too far away...but I don't care. Cedar waxwings are too pretty to ignore. A bunch of them swooped in and started eating honeysuckle fruits. The downside of that is that they will distribute the seeds far and wide.
Wonder what worked so hard to make this lovely cavity? I'll have to keep an eye on it this spring and see if anyone new moves in. I wish I had a way to look inside -- perhaps one of my bat mirrors can be adapted to fit in the hole...but that is a project for another day.
5 comments:
Cackling over the wolf-fart puffball! (can't help it)
I'm was so distracted by the beautiful blue sky in these photos (please send some my way) that the wolf-fart almost got past me, but nah - I'm cackling along with lynne:0)
Very nice things! And me too, the wolf-fart puffball is going to have me giggling for days. Especially since it's in Latin too!
If wolf farts are anything like Lab farts, DO NOT POP THAT FUNGUS!
That cavity is so perfect. The critter must have used a Forstner bit.
Lynne, Cathy, and Rurality,
I had to laugh when I learned the name of this fungus. It made me wonder about the person who named it -- what manner of experience did he/she have with the farts of wolves??
FC,
A Lab-fart fungus would definitely be toxic :) Our Hannah has nearly run us out of the house on more than one occassion with her emissions.
I did give the fungus a poke, though. Two little streams of spores came out. Reminded me of silly string...
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