4 more pictures in notes above ! :)

Yesterday when I was on the ridge line, I nearly stepped on an emerging mushroom which was pushing itself through the fallen leaves. I didn't have my camera with me so I carefully laid branches around and on top of it so it wouldn't be eaten during the night.

I went up today and found the mushroom doing just fine, so I removed the branches and then set up my scene, brushing away excess leaves, removing anything from the background which would cause distraction. At one point I looked around me and was totally surprised to find that while I was brushing away leaves, I'd knocked another mushroom off the base of its stalk and it lay cap down with its stalk standing straight up in the air. First I saw that it was yellow. Then I noticed it didn't have gills! "WOW!! IT HAS PORES! COOL!!" This is the very first "pored" mushroom I've ever seen before, it's a Bolete mushroom of some type. I can say that with extreme confidence because it's one of only two kinds of fungus that has pores! The other type grows in old logs and is a shelf fungus. If you roll your mouse over this picture, you'll see a close-up of the pores! (I also have a top-down view as well! :D)

How exciting! In fact, I was so enchanted with this mushroom that I made it my Picture of the Day. The other mushroom will be posted sometime soon. It's nice but not as unique as this extra special mushroom! (In case you're wondering, I took three exposures and put them together for this image!)

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Explored on October 30, 2013. Highest placement, page 4.