15-Day Sit Spot Challenge: Days 12 and 13, November 19, 2018

15-Day Sit Spot Challenge

Days # 12 and #13

Both on November 19, 2018

Here we go again!

For an explanation of what this series is about, see the first posting I made in the series, for Days #1 and #2.

Day #12

November 19, 2018

Afternoon

Turkey Tail Fungi

Prompt for Day #12: Get acquainted with a being at your spot. Seek out a new, unfamiliar being. Use all of your senses to learn about it. Sketch it, using as many details as you can note. Note what questions are bubbling up about it. Later, do research. Try to identify it and find answers to your questions.

The day was overcast and wet all over. There had been fog settled over the area in the early morning.

As I wandered to my Sit Spot and explored the area, I noticed that such wetness had brought fungi forth (Cherie and I had seen a variety of fungi the day before, also). I knew very few of the species that I found, so I knew that my new “being” would be a mushroom.

A log close to my Sit Spot log (smaller, and more advanced in decay) was especially rich in fungi. Besides various beautifully-striped, fan-shaped Turkey Tail mushrooms, there were the groups of very tiny, bright yellow dot mushrooms that I so often find (I will look them up).

Turkey Tails

There were also patches of bright green moss that set off the colorful fungi nicely.

An unfamiliar mushroom caught my curiosity. Actually, a number of these, not far from the tiny yellow ones. They were growing in overlapping clusters mainly, though some were growing singly.

The largest were smaller than my pinky fingernail. They were creamy-colored, or maybe more the color of cafe-au-lait.

Where the mushroom was attached to the rotting wood it had, instead of a distinctive stem, two lumps covered with a texture similar to the mushroom top.

I removed and examined one with my 14x loup magnifier. The top of the mushroom was roughly textured. Close up, it made me think of the texture in an aerial view of a thick forest, with ragged spaces between large clumps of trees. I suppose some might see it as looking down on the top of a head of cauliflower.

I turned it over and found fleshy, creamy-colored gills, not as finely separated as in some mushroom species. There were long gills that ran from the mushroom base to the cap edge, attached at both ends. Between those were gills from the cap edge and halfway to the base. And, between those were very short gills.

The edge of the mushroom cap was slightly curved inward, toward the bottom.

Here are the drawings I did in my field notebook – with very cold fingers!

Later, I pulled out a few of my fungi field guides and started searching. In one of them, I stumbled upon the one I believe to be the correct match. The descriptions (very thorough) and the photo all matched perfectly. Its scientific name, as given in this book, is Claudopus depluens. There was no common name given.

Using this, I tried looking it up in my other books, to no avail. Then I typed in this name in the search bar on the internet and got some hits. There were some identical photos, but they tended to be ones people shared from their Flicker accounts, with no other information. There were what looked to be, possibly, informative pages, but in foreign languages. There were a few pages that had strictly to do with taxonomy – the name and classification of the mushroom. Through those I did fine scientific name synonyms (such as Entoloma depluens, Agaricus depluens, Crepidotus depluens, etc.). I tried looking up those synonyms in my other fungi field guides – again to no avail. And, there were no common names on the web sites.

It seemed that if I was going to learn more about this mushroom, it would be through my own observations only. But, one of these days I will search some more, because I want to find out whatever I can about this tiny being. I may post photos of it to the fungi identification Facebook pages I belong to, with the name I found, and ask what anyone might know about it.

Until then, I will just enjoy this little gem whenever I see it. And I will be happy that, with persistence, I actually tracked down its identity – at least I hope I did (I find fungi very challenging).

And, I will be grateful to the creators of the 15-Day Sit Spot Challenge for encouraging us to get to know, as well as we can, one unfamiliar being in our midst, on this particular day.

Day #13

Also on November 19, 2018

Afternoon

My Sit Spot, from the end, as seen from the Deer Trail

Prompt for Day #13: Where are animals traveling? Survey the area for animal trails. How far can you trace each trail? How many different trails are there? Look anywhere our imagination leads you. Draw a map of our findings.

Where are animals traveling in my woods?

Sometimes I know, sometimes I don't.

I have been known to follow Raccoon trails along the creeks here.

I have followed various tracks in the snow to see where they traveled and what they were doing.

Recently I could follow Fox Squirrel trails visible in the snow on top of fallen trees and logs.

The other day, Cherie found the snail on the leaves of the woods floor. Its slime trail was visible, though for a short distance.

I have followed a mysterious animal trail from a hole in the base of a young tree and along an associated beaten path.

I have come across other signs, such as scat, and bones.

This day was wet and overcast. The ground was covered in a thick layer of leaves that were still whole, their variety of textures making the woods floor fluffy. There was almost no bare ground at all. And no snow remaining.

In other words, it was not an easy day for tracking.

I found fresh scratch marks on a log near my Sit Spot.

Animal scratch marks near the Sit Spot

Sometimes I found a partially chewed Black Walnut, with or without the husk. Squirrels had been busy there, either on the ground or in trees, from which they may have dropped the nuts.

As I walked slowly about, I both heard and saw Woodpeckers moving through the canopy, from woods edge inward. This was a type of wildlife trail, too.

I distinctly heard a Pileated Woodpecker and a White-Breasted Nuthatch.

There is one “game trail” in my woodland that I know for sure. Deer cross the road from the neighbors' place and travel on a fairly linear trail between the inner woodland and the row of trees that separate us from the next-door crop field. Eventually they take some vaguely different routes, but generally in the same direction, veering westward at the back end in order to stay on the ridge top. They eventually leap the fence to our back crop field.

Deer Trail from the road and into the woods

Deer Trail - looking northwest

Deer Trail - ridge top to the northwest - with Silas

Looking up the Deer Trail to the east/southeast (from Sit Spot vicinity to road)

From my Sit Spot - looking across the Deer Trail and across the crop field

It is just inside the woods in the back area, not far from the crop field edge, among young Paw-paw trees and some as-yet not destroyed Asian Bush Honeysuckles, that a young man has his deer blind and awaits (with permission) the nearness of these deer, with his hunting bow.

I walked on part of the known Deer Trail to pick up any signs of them. I did find two spots of their droppings.

I wandered further into the woods, southeast of my Sit Spot, staying on ridge tops. The deer had wandered here, too, well off the known trail. I found two of their resting spots, where their warm bodies had matted down the loose leaf layer.

There were also divots in the leaf layer and soil in this area, which may have been caused by their hooves, or by them poking noses into the ground. Or, some could have been caused by Squirrels.

Or, something else.

I looked for more droppings here, but only came across something resembling them at first glance – clusters of dried wild grapes that had fallen from vines growing in the trees.

I'd love to learn more about tracking, to find out where animals have been and what they were doing, and maybe even see them. The Sit Spot methods will help me hone some skills and enlarge my awareness.