Monday, June 6, 2011

A Walk in the Forest on Whidbey Island

IMG_3599 Woodpecker Tree

Back in April I visited my college friend David and his wife Victoria. They live on Whidbey Island, a quick ferry ride north of Seattle. One afternoon during our magical weekend, we took a brief hike in the forest...

IMG_3574 Whidbey forest

...where the air is moist and the moss grows lush.

IMG_3591 moss

The undergrowth is a study in organic design.

IMG_3579 Whidbey forest undergrowth

We had to watch that we didn't step on anyone...

IMG_3578 banana slug
Banana slug (Genus Ariolimax)

...and that no one might step on us.

IMG_3600 woodpecker tree

I had never seen so many varieties of fungi in less than an hour. 

IMG_3594 tree fungus


IMG_3585 black fungus
Update: possibly Bulgaria inquinans
I could not identify one of them...

IMG_3613 fallen tree fungus

... beyond the kingdom of Fungi.

IMG_3618 fungus on felled tree

IMG_3644 tree fungus

Then I saw a mushroom similar to one that my buddy Ken-ichi identified for me last January. Hopefully Ken-ichi, impressive naturalist and co-founder/developer of iNaturalist.org, will confirm that this is of the genus Agaricus.

IMG_3607 fungus


I recognized the morel mushroom from back in the days when I could eat mushrooms without getting a migraine headache.

Morel mushroom (Genus Morchella)

I have never eaten a salmonberry, but I bet it's delicious.

Salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis

Maybe I have to return in the autumn so that I could taste them.
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