Welcome to Looking Out In North Texas. I plan to post photos and comments about what I'm finding. I have posted pdf files of my books. I have made available to all for free. As I find new stuff I will be updating the books. So you may want to download them again after a time. Lots of cool stuff to see and enjoy! So I will keep looking out and hope you will too. Thank you, Mary
FUNgi
The Rain Crow (also known as the Yellow-billed Cuckoo) was yakking about all the rain! Glad the sunshine returned this afternoon. Well, it was the perfect day for seeing what FUN-gi had popped up.
On the morning walk, this caught my eye along the path!
What a beauty eh! Jim took this angle of it. Do you see the bird? Thanks Jim!
As per my usual, I had to cut it open to see if had a different color (sometimes they do).
The gills had the pinkish tint too!
Small yellow ones!
Stinkhorn lost its stink!
Hollow stem was the give away for it being a stinkhorn.
You can probably tell from the grass blades, this was a small one. I like the ridges on the cap.
These were almost translucent!
Just a pair!
This little yellow one stuck out like a candle burning!
Lots of nibbling!
Fairy fingers (Xylaria species) and little red fairy umbrellas?
This is what happens to Tapioca slime mold.
A nice brown cluster of mushrooms.
A crowd!
Close up.
Maybe a fairy tub LOL!
Another amazing tiny mushroom! This one I noticed while I was taking a shot of a moth.
I believe this is a different species from the other one I found the other day. Pencil lead is for size comparison. It seems to be a bit hairy and doesn't have the skirt at the attachment point to the twig like the other one. Pretty cool!
And that was the FUN- gi today!
Article: Thanks Suzanne for sharing this article. Really cool!
The Ice Age Persists in the Upper Midwest, Where the Hills Breathe
Keep looking!
Candlesnuff
These photos are all from the Prairie Seekers field day in Collin County.
Candlesnuff fungus or also called Stag's horn fungus (Xylaria species)! Apparently you must look at the spores to get a definite answer for the species according to the MushroomExpert.
Border Patch caterpillar on Saw-tooth Sunflower (Helianthus grosseserratus)! We saw quite a few of these cats on the sunflowers.
This is the stem of the Saw-tooth Sunflower (Helianthus grosseserratus)!
Hard to resist peeking inside!
I was surprised to find the Seven-spotted Ladybugs in there.
This Leprapia neglecta lichen looks like a powder or paint on the tree!
Fruit and Flower Chafer (Trichiotinus assimilis) nestled in a Barbara's Button!
Keep looking!
Ick and cute
Now I know some of you will want to skip part of this post, but I found both of my subjects quite interesting. The Gulf Coast Tick (Amblyomma maculatum) and the Common Bird's Nest (Crucibulum laeve) fungus are the my subjects today.
I brought both of these ticks home with me in a container from yesterday's NPAT Prairie Seekers training field trip. This is the female Gulf Coast Tick.
The male I think has a very pretty pattern on its back. You may be able to see the hook on its hind leg. This is characteristic of this species. I never knew that male and female ticks looked different from each other, but then again I never have looked this close before LOL.
This is the underside. The life cycle is egg, larva, nymph and adult. The adults and the nymphs have eight legs. When it is a larva, it only has six legs. Many creatures will prey on them. Some of their predators are birds, opossums, ants (including fire ants), beetles and spiders.
Did you make it this far? Now for something cuter.
This is a fairly small fungus. See the "eggs" in the open one? That is where the spores are. When the conditions are right, the lid pops off to reveal the "eggs"!
A closer view of the spore containers that are called peridioles.
The peridiole is only about 2 mm across and about .3 mm thick.
The red arrow is pointing to a cord. This cord is attaching it to the cup. When a rain drop hits it, the cord unwinds and the peridiole flies out. Pretty cool! It grows on decaying wood, compost and dung.
This is what the peridiole looks like on the inside. The part is all the spores!
And this is under the compound scope. The spores are about 10 x 4 microns. This was a fun thing to do on a damp day!
Keep looking!
Slime mold
Today, I went on the Prairie Seeker field training over in Collin County. It was a great day! Only got misted on a little bit and the only shower came when we were getting back into cars to leave. Good karma! I will share tomorrow what we found.
Tapioca slime mold (Brefeldia maxima) is interesting! Actually with the wet weather we have quite a bit of it growing in the our woods. Sometimes it just is on the ground. Its spores are dispersed by invertebrates and rain.
Sometimes it will climb up a stick or weed. The red stuff is it digesting. There is another slime mold called Dog Vomit which is more yellowish. I have not photographed that one.
This is one of my favorite slime molds called Chocolate Tube slime mold (Stemonitis splendens). It can be hard to spot because it is small and blends in. It can be up 20 mm tall, but mostly I find it about 10 mm tall.
This is the top view. It is interesting to see the tubes move in a breeze.
Keep looking!
Take off!
I went for an afternoon drive with my good friend! We saw several real nice birds. Three spotted sandpipers, the closest view I have ever had of a broad-wing hawk, two great egrets, two green herons, a beautiful female painted bunting and a couple of great blue herons that were lazily circling in the sky! Photos are from the morning walks with Gracie. Gracie even took a dip in our pond.
This metallic shiny beetle was in the Yellow Flax!
To my surprise this tree frog was sitting on top of honey locust stump!
It did not move a bit.
A glowing Indian Paintbrush! It was a different from the usual orangey red color.
I think the Kern's Flower chafers were tearing into the thistle!
Witch's Butter was pretty!
Small snake vertebrae!
A small bee and the Fruit and Flower Chafer (Trichiotinus assimilis)!
Take off! Wasn't that the lucky shot!
Keep looking!
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