fungus sightings – The Hermits' Rest

Seeing old friends anew

Well, this title works in two ways, both of which are good news for me. First, I got to chat with a colleague from when I first moved to Texas and was volunteering with La Leche League. Jean was a fellow Leader I enjoyed working with and getting to know. We are still Facebook friends, but I hadn’t realized she’d become a Master Naturalist until I saw her name last night as achieving a milestone. It was great to find her this morning and get to catch up briefly. She’s still so gracious and lovely.

The only other highlight of the final morning of the Master Naturalist annual meeting was learning that our recertification pin will be a pecan tree. Everyone seemed fine with that choice.

After saying goodbye to everyone, I drove over to Mother Neff State Park for the final field trip. This park is another old friend, which I’ve visited for Master Naturalist trips and to go camping. What makes it new is that over ten years after a major flood, the lower parts of the park have reopened. I’d never seen all that area before!

This is the old entrance. They’ve moved the entrance and camping to higher ground.

The old buildings held up through the flooding very well. In face, the Rock Chapel, where we met, looks brand-new after being power washed.

I learned that so much silt was deposited that the mound the chapel building was constructed on is so longer there. The silt deposited by the flooding made it lower than ground level.

This silt with cool animal tracks is over the foundation. I guess they must keep sweeping after each rain.

After our learning, our group went on what was supposed to be a guided nature discovery walk. However, keeping Master Naturalists together is one of those cat herding situations. It doesn’t work. Still we learned some new plants and interesting historical tidbits from the leaders and participants.

The trail is called the Lost Trail, since they found it after flood cleanup. It was interesting to see that many large trees survived and are thriving. Different trees are in different parts of the trail, because the terrain changes. Here’s some scenery.

The tower is on the part that I’d seen before

Of course, I spent much of the time looking for plants and pollinators. Still, the woods were so pretty that I did remember to look at the whole woodland, too. I found many familiar flora and fauna, but there were a couple new ones for me.

Wahoo (*Euonymus atropurpureus)* also known as Hearts Bursting with Love

I grabbed a few nice images of more familiar plants, insects, and a mammal friend. I hope you enjoy them!

Before heading home I took a long and beautiful back road out of the old part of the park. It followed the Leon River, revealed the lush floodplain, then climbed a limestone hill. The road ended at a quarry. It was a wonderful way to wind up a nature weekend!

Now I’m back with the family and menagerie.

Happy to see me. Freshly treated for fleas!

Fun times with black rocks

Ha ha. I must start with the fact that yesterday’s post about looking at houses has had WAY more views than anything I ever posted. Now, the number of visitors was normal, just everyone looked at all the house photos. I don’t blame any of you. I also love sneak peeks at houses.

Martha and Mike left this morning so they could take two days to get to Cameron. Lee stayed at the cabin to await real estate news. Anita and I took the opportunity to drive through the beautiful scenery between Ruidoso and Capitan, New Mexico on our way to see my favorite National Treasure, the Valley of Fire. I couldn’t take pictures from the car, since I had to drive, but we did stop at a viewing spot for some viewing and photography. it isn’t the most spectacular view, but I enjoyed looking at the scenery, and it was incredibly quiet in between the few passing cars.

After making sure I wouldn’t die from eating a barberry fruit, we continued on through Carrizozo to our amazing destination. I’ve written about the Malpais (badlands), which are an ancient lava flow, before, but I’m sure a refresher won’t hurt.

These “badlands” are a kind of rock formation where lava is right at the surface. The geological name for the area is the Carrizozo Volcanic Field. It’s the result of many years of flow from Little Black Peak, ten miles away. You can see this area from the air on some flights. If you see White Sands, look north. The following is from Wikipedia:

See how close it is to where the first atomic bomb was set off!

Okay, enough geology. The place is simply wonderful to see. There are many plants and animals adapted to the terrain. We saw a lizard, bees in a hole, and many birds. The Rock Wren was new to me and we heard it lots. The Green-tailed Towhee was also a new one.

As for plants, early autumn brings much color to the black landscape. There were yellows, pinks, and purples everywhere, along with cholla, sotol, and yuccas. These are a mere few.

I was able to stop looking through binoculars or the camera lens to enjoy the lava formations and mountains in the distance. It’s an impressive site. As Anita said so eloquently, “Nature, she crazy!” It’s hard not to be overwhelmed by awe as you look at the chutes, flows, caves, and crags. New Mexico has so many geological wonders!

We enjoyed talking to the park volunteer, who had been many fun places with the park service, and who also happened to be an expert on homosexuality/transexuals and the Bible. She’s one of those trans pioneers who educates others kindly and politely. That’s got to be so hard sometimes. you just never know who you’ll meet!

We were hungry, so ate in the diner in Carrizozo. It was American Mexican food, not even Tex Mex. Oh well, it was food!

The drive back was through different scenery, which is always fun. We briefly stopped in Ruidoso to get Anita a sweatshirt. I got one, too, and these cute Zuni dragonfly earrings that will match my bumblebee jasper pendant I got earlier. It will be fun to wear to the Master Naturalist meeting in a few weeks.

I guess we’re ready to go home. Lee has been assured that any real estate business he needs to do can be done electronically, so we can go home. Things have gone a bit haywire there, so I need to check on stuff! Kathleen has been handling stuff like a superhuman!

Never too much natural beauty, right?

Anyone other than me might have overloaded on nature today. I may have overdone walking, but not enjoying the sky, the trees, the water, and all the critters running around. It was great having the day off to explore the Ruidoso, New Mexico area on a pleasant autumn day!

Can’t beat a mountain lake for beauty! Grindstone Lake

Everyone has been relaxing in the mornings on this trip, but I wanted to GO while the weather was nice. I walked back to the National Forest trail near our cabin and was happy to learn the rain hadn’t made the trail impassable. It’s so peaceful in the mountain woods.

I thought I wouldn’t see any new plants, since I’d walked some of the path already. But no. There was one stretch of path that I found something new every few feet. it felt quite magical, like I was experiencing a gift.

Whole leaf paintbrush – ***Castilleja integra***

I had to rest when I got back from all that climbing. But soon enough Anita and Martha agreed to go with me to check out Grindstone Lake, a local reservoir, fishing, and swimming spot. It’s where it was so crowded last time that we couldn’t get in. Luckily, today was chilly for swimming, and the games of some kind that will be held at the lake aren’t until next week.

I have so many pretty pictures that it’s hard to choose from.

We had a blast wandering around looking at the plants, collecting rocks (not me), birding (me), and basking in the beauty. This made us very happy humans.

***Poecilanthrax californicus –*** a banded bee fly

Of course there were also flowers to see along Grindstone Lake. Here are just a few, I promise. I did leave some out.

We finally dragged ourselves away from the lake. Being me, I suggested we go to another lake, since we had time. This is Alto Lake, another reservoir, about 15 minutes away from Grindstone. It didn’t have such spectacular scenery, at least to the others, who didn’t like that there were houses on one side of the lake. It is also smaller but still popular with fans of fishing.

The reason I like this lake is that it’s teeming with birds. There were Coots and Mallards in the water, and so many tiny birds, goldfinches, bluebirds, and Bushtits, etc. The highlight for me was seeing and photographing a Townsend’s Warbler, one of my new lifers for this trip. It’s so beautiful!

After this, our legs were done, so we went to the store to get dinner stuff and sundries. I got myself some Old Fashioned in a bottle. After all that exercise, I was done for. I’m glad Martha made eggs and sausage that we could turn into dinner tacos (like breakfast ones, but at night).

I’m not sure what tomorrow will bring other than real estate stuff. That should be fun.

There’s a lot of Mississippi in Mississippi

Today we set off from the edge of Florida, zipped through Alabama, and ended up in Lee’s favorite place to do bird watching, the Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge. He’s even come here without me.

I have never actually seen a crane here, though I see them often enough at home. My favorite part of this site is the nature trail, because it takes you through many fascinating plants that I’ve never seen elsewhere, including pitcher plants, my carnivorous favorites. Last time I was here I got great pictures of them, as well as flytraps (those weren’t blooming now).

I’m also fond of the bayou behind the trail, which is absolutely pristine and often has many water birds (not today). Photos don’t do it justice.

Rain held off for us, so we were able to go through the whole trail. I think I found new plants I didn’t see last time, which was a different season. It was extra humid, though. Whew. I’ve got some photos for you. I swear I omitted most tedious plant closeups.

I needed a cold drink, so we stopped at a gas station with an intriguing sign saying “We have deer burritos.” Well, that sounded interesting. We went in to find a shiny clean convenience store with people buying food that smelled really good. Everyone was extra friendly, and I enjoyed my conversation with the guy behind the counter about my love of boudin (it’s a Cajun rice sausage). He had, get this, boudin in an egg roll wrapper. That was my lunch, while Lee got deer burrito. Both were yummy.

Next, Lee said he had a surprise for me. He was going to the only “park” he could find between where we were and Laurel, the next stop. So we drove and drove. We saw a lot of tiny towns and trees.

We turned onto smaller and smaller roads, never seeing signs to any park. But the map software said there was a park!

We realized we were in a National Forest, but no sign said which one. We arrived at the park. It was a forest road not near any houses or anything.

Since we were there, we made the best of it and looked around. The woods were teeming with butterflies and native bees. They weren’t scared of us, so they zipped all around us. Magical! I found a few more plants, too.

On our way out, we kept going on the road to the “park” and saw that if we’d have come in that way, we’d have seen signs about numerous forests, preserves, trails and other places. At least we knew it was ok to be in there!

As we continued across Mississippi, which has lots and lots of tiny towns, lakes, and forests, we eventually made it to the edge of the state, Natchez. There was actually a hotel room available in the scenic River area. I was glad to see the Hampton Inn had been remodeled since I was last here.

We tried to go eat somewhere nice, but Lee got frustrated trying to find hidden historic areas. We ended up at Dairy Queen. It’s ok. We are tired from all the meanderings!

Home tomorrow.

Exploring the Unknown, Nearby

I’ve got to tell you how much fun I had this morning! My friend Ann and I went to see the property of our fellow Master Naturalist, to help her improve her skills and see what plants and birds were there.

Our friend lives far enough east of the Hermits’ Rest that the soil is very different, quite sandy compared to my soil. That means different plants will grow. I’d already noticed that along the road to my horse lessons, where the Gaillardia are solid red, and standing cypress lines the road this time of year, with its red plumes. So pretty.

Maroon blanketflower (*Gaillardia amblyodon)*

The birding where we visited was pretty good, and I learned the sounds of a Swainson’s Warbler very well when the ubiquitous White-eyed Vireos rested momentarily. It gave good opportunity for Merlin Bird ID lessons.

The plants were what had me all in a tizzy, though. There were expanses of meadows bordered by nice thick woods, plus excellent trails the homeowners maintain. So much to explore!

I found interesting insects, too. I wish I could have gotten photos of all the different bees and wasps buzzing around all the flowers, but I did capture a few as well as butterflies. The pale pipevine swallowtail was so lovely I will share multiple photos.

There were some impressive wildflower areas, and in one of them I found many species I’d never seen, even some Ann had never seen, and she doesn’t live too far away. A couple of these, like the prairie clover, are pretty rare, so no wonder I wasn’t familiar with them.

The flowers were in a place is where someone built a new tall wildlife fence about ten feet back from the original barbed wire. The area where cattle or other ruminants can’t reach was a blaze of flowers. It’s a secret botanical treasure we discovered!

It wasn’t just flowers that were new. There were plenty of fungus and moss samples to investigate, too. I’d never seen a moss inflorescence so spectacular as the one we found on a trail, and after the recent rains, mushrooms were everywhere.

I don’t mean to go on and on, but this unknown wonderland brought a lot of joy, as did hanging out with my fellow nature lovers. It’s hard to believe I found so much that was new to me, so close to home.

I’ve spared you most of the species I saw, but this location has gone from nothing on iNaturalist to dozens, including the rare ones. I hope this makes a scientist happy someday!

Voted Most Beautiful Flower, by me, was the propeller flower or *Alophia drummondii*

Flooding Adventures

What an interesting 24 hours it’s been! We set out from Clinton and powered our way through Mississippi and Louisiana. As we were doing so, the news from home was not good. Of course we needed rain, but flash flooding and tornadoes we could do without. Friends and family kept us updated, and the ranch survived okay. Friends did get damage from wind and lightning.

We were all as alert as this mockingbird who wasn’t threatened by the fake owl.

We started getting notices of flood warnings on our phones. At lunch I even got a phone call from the weather service! I guess that hadn’t been cut yet. By the way, yesterday’s lunch made us both very sick. Pepto Bismol to the rescue.

We tried to make it back to the Hermits’ Rest, but the rain got pretty scary. We had planned to make a stop at Lake Martin Creek State Park on the way but it was so bad that I spontained and decided to stop and let the weather pass.

We got a cabin with heat and air conditioning, and got soaked unloading and going to the restroom. Luckily we were the closest cabin to the facilities and had spare clothing to change into. We got all cozy and listened to the rain and lightning.

By early evening the rains had ended but the roads were still pretty bad and flooded in spots. So we stayed put and I wandered around to check out the pretty park on a big lake with a bigger power plant.

I was glad I had a nice long book to read and that we each had a blanket. Even without a pillow I slept great.

I didn’t want to sleep too late in case these guys would come after me (joke).

I threw on clothing I could get dirty and headed out to the trails on the cool island in the lake, which has a convenient bridge.

While the trails were challenging due to all the water, it was well worth it.

There were many trees of many kinds, which is typical in the Piney Woods region of east Texas. There weren’t many flowers, even in the grassy meadows, but it was very beautiful and secluded. The best part? Forty-eight species of birds!

Most of the birds hid, however. My new lifer, the Hooded Warbler, however did NOT hide. Its face is like the opposite of a Yellow-breasted Chat, so I was thrilled to ID it. Of course it didn’t sit there long enough to photograph.

Yeah, that was a good tromp through the mud. We are finally going to make it home, though we are seeing pretty impressive flooding and swollen waterways. One town we went through had obviously been hit by a tornado and had a television crew filming.

Another Island Full of Birds

We said farewell to Hilton Head yesterday, and not a moment too soon, because my heart broke to learn that a sperm whale washed ashore on the beach in front of our condo. That only happens when they are sick. It’s a part of life, as I’ve been reminded, but would be hard to watch.

Enjoy this beautiful plant, Large-flowered Orlaya, instead of anything sad.

We didn’t drive far before our first, more cheerful, stop. I couldn’t miss a visit to the Pinckney Island rookery in spring! It did not disappoint!

Of course, there were many songbirds, grackles, and such, but one huge highlight was seeing baby Great Egrets in their nests being tended by their beautiful parents.

It was great fun to enjoy the bird cacophony and chat with other birders about what we were seeing.

I hope those give you an idea of the crowds.

Many other herons were there, but all the Little Blues insisted on landing deep inside trees. Tricolored ones were much more sociable.

We were delighted when a beautiful Tricolored Heron landed right next to me and proceeded to be endearing for a long time. It even did a butt-wiggle dance. Oh, the cuteness. You’ll just have to suffer through more photos.

The heron was right next to three young alligators. They mutually ignored each other.

I had such a great visit! Between birds I saw and birds I heard, there were 48 species. Here are other highlights.

The staff at the preserve are doing a project to get rid of invasive Chinese tallow trees and thin the understory to prevent devastating fires. They’ve cut down many trees in the first phase. It isn’t pretty but is understandable. I saw funding came from the recent infrastructure bill passed by Congress. I hope the funding isn’t withdrawn mid-project like so many are.

Much larger gator not bothered by pruning

We next drove to the greater High Point, North Carolina area to visit our family members. (Some were unavailable, sadly). The roads were not in great shape, and we followed rain much of the way, but we made it. It was worth it to see Donita and Libba, who couldn’t join me on this trip to Hilton Head.

We had dinner at a very nice restaurant, though it was hard to talk due to people screaming while they ate. Three of us were hard of hearing. But we persevered and laughed a lot. Lee and I also had fun.

This morning I managed to get a 20-minute walk in the neighborhood of our hotel. I found 31 birds and some interesting plants. Let’s see where we go next!

Peach-colored Fly Agaric – *Amanita persicina*

I Left the Vicinity

Another day of nice weather and nice birds. This is not an exciting trip so far, but it has certainly lifted my spirits and calmed me down. If I hadn’t accidentally got mixed up with a bunch of people living in the alternate society in the US and had to deal with some insults, I’d be completely okay. But anyway, it’s all good, and I have access to a car!

Magnolias are another sign of the Deep South for me.

While I waited for Lee to get here, I went for a walk through neighborhoods, it being Sunday and me not wanting to interfere with church services by wandering their parking lots and trails. I did hear some good birds and even saw the flash of a Redstart, which was exciting. I enjoy looking at the houses here. It’s a mix of ones built when the island first started to be developed, which are modest 60s and 70s houses and huge vacation homes that are three stories and obviously for renting to large groups. There are a few smaller rentals.

Did I take photos of any houses? No. That feels icky to me, so here’s a skink with a missing tail.

I continued to take pictures of cultivated plants, finding it rather fun to see the information on them in iNat. There are a lot of people with over a thousand observations in the City Nature Challenge now, but I just have over 200. I have a life. Also, there just aren’t that many different native plants in this part of Hilton Head.

This one’s a mophead hydrangea, *Hydrangea macrophylla*.

Today maybe I’ll see some different plants, since I can go to a different part of the island. It’s interesting how just a few miles can be a different ecosystem, which I’ve learned in Milam County, where Tarrin gets many different plants from our ranch.

You will see this fungus in many places, though. Stereum lobatum.

Of course, now that Lee is here and we have a car, it’s probably going to rain all day, but we have some other things we can do. We did go to dinner last night at the very pleasant Sea Camp restaurant, with the lovely outdoor areas. It’s dog friendly, so I was not surprised to find Lee talking to a couple with two dogs when I got back from taking pictures of life around a dock.

Just look at this tiny crabby cuteness. It’s a squareback marsh crab – *Amases cinereum*.

The people were very nice, though, so it was quite pleasant, after spending so much time all by myself. Maybe I’ll run into more people today. At least I’ll have the Big Lens on the camera, so we can try to photograph wildlife. Maybe there will be things that are more exciting than dead and stinky armadillos (I sure remember that smell from the one our dogs got into) and dead stingrays (boo hoo).

I love the views of the marshes and river.

PS to email subscribers: I used a different setting for the email the blog sends out. Please let me know if it is weird or what.

Recuperating and Resting

The past week was a lot, so I decided to take some time off and not push myself today. Horses were fed and medicated, and Apache seems fine still. It rained more, so I’m proud I got the necessary chores done and could relax the rest of the day.

I took it slow, like these turtles who miraculously didn’t flee when I appeared, like they usually do.

I wandered around listening to birds and munching on native plants this morning. Some of this stuff should go in meals, like saw green briar shoots, beaked cornsalad (not related to corn), and chickweed. I see why the chickens like it so much. It’s zesty!

I watched it rain, read, crocheted, watched golf on television, and took a nap. That’s quite a day of rest. I think I hit a high note of boringness! Hey, even Heather Cox Richardson took a day off, so I can, too.

This is sweet. Rain filled the holes in the door mat and this Red Admiral found it to be a great watering station.

The vegetation here is finally greener, and many more flowers and plants are showing up. Photographing them is better for me than catching up on the news. It’ll be there tomorrow.

Home and Nature’s Glory

We made it home from Cleburne by going the back way. We saw towns we never heard of, and it was a lot less stressful than the Interstate.

I’ll miss the waterfowl. That’s a cormorant and a coot.

We were able to stay most of the day, so I got another nice hike around the lake. I disturbed many vultures, but they came back as soon as I left. Lots of flappy flappy wings going on.

The rest of the walk was filled with Robins rustling in the leaves. They were everywhere! Eventually I found the rest of the songbirds. I love the different titmice calling back and forth.

Most of my photos are of dried flowers and Shumard Red Oaks. But why not? They are beautiful.

The long weekend was very helpful for me. I made some decisions for the future that put me at ease at least a bit, and I look forward to being with friends and coworkers like normal.