Mud Pond Mushroom Hunt

Although it was rainy and kind of cold, I went to Mud Pond today. Why? "When oaks have leaves like a mouse's ear, that's when the tasty Morels appear." Time to hunt for the best-tasting mushroom there is. So I skedaddled right over to where we had found some last year. No luck. Try again later. I did find some tiny mushrooms though, really wee ones (maybe a half-inch across), bright orange, clinging to a branch of a tree. They did have stems, which can't be seen in this photo. Of course, they don't look like any of the pictures in any of my mushroom books. Any guesses?

Even though I didn't find Morels, I did find some other things worth a second look. Lots of Dutchman's Breeches were growing along a creek, and by now it looks like they've opened their flies (compared to how buttoned-up they looked a few blog posts back).

Miterworts are now opening their blossoms, which will bloom unseen if you don't bend down to take a close look, they are so small. It's worth the effort, because I know of no other flower with such amazingly intricate petals.

The path around Mud Pond cuts midway across steep banks, which brings the walker right into the branches of trees blooming down by the water. I had never been this close to the flower clusters of an American Beech, which usually occupy the air far over my head. There's a female flower in the uppermost spot, tucked under that bright pink cover. The clusters of green buds are the male flowers, which will shed lots of pollen on the air when they open (Ah choo!).

Aha! One more violet to add to the season's list. At first glance it looks like just another Common Blue Violet, but do take a closer look. Those basal leaves are not heart-shaped, but oval. And see how furry they are. Furry stems, too. This must be Ovate- leaved Violet (Viola fimbriatula).

Here's a closer look at those furry ovate leaves. This is surely the teddy bear of the violet world.

The Flowers Are Coming Fast!

So many flowers, so little time! Because a cold and snowy spring delayed the onset of blooming, the wildflowers are now making up for lost time in this lovely warm weather. On Sundays, church duties keep me out of the woods until afternoon, so I had to really scurry to keep up with today's burst-into-bloomers, making a quick run to the Skidmore Woods before heading over to Ballston Spa to circle the pond at Woods Hollow Nature Preserve.

In alphabetical order, here are most of the flowers I found blooming today.

Birch catkins swaying in the breeze

Corn Speedwell, a tiny weed growing along the sidewalk near my home

Dwarf Ginseng, which will bloom for a week or so and then disappear completely

Early Meadow Rue, with staminate flowers dangling like windchimes .

Puffy pistillate flowers were growing on a separate plant nearby.

Goldthread, whose snowy sepals could be mistaken for petals

and whose yellow-jello petals look sort of like anthers

Large-flowered Bellwort usually blooms at least a week later than the

sessile-leaved kind, but this year the two opened their buds the same week.

Leatherleaf has found a boggy shore to its

liking

in one bay of the Woods Hollow pond.

Long-spurred Violet thrives in the Skidmore Woods.

It's pretty evident how it got its name.

Northern White Violet loves wet spots and usually blooms

a bit earlier than the similar Sweet White Violet.

Pellia epiphylla. Not many liverworts, even

common ones like this, have common names.

Shadblow, Serviceberry, Juneberry -- whichever name you

call this first flowering tree of spring, it couldn't be lovelier.

Small-flowered Crowfoot, whose tiny stars

often shine unseen because they are so small

Sweet Fern. These fluffy red female flowers bloom before the male flowers on its own plant do, relying on wind to carry pollen from neighboring plants with open male catkins.

Willow. What kind? Even botanists find this genus confusing.

I'd never seen one so beautifully yellow, and it was fragrant, too.

Not all my finds today were floral. The population of goldfish in the Woods Hollow pond has burgeoned over the years from what was probably just one fishbowl full at first. How startling to see their vivid orange slashing through the green reflections.

This Yellow-rumped Warbler was singing away right over my head, and I should have been able to get a perfect photo of it. I might have, too, if I hadn't just been shooting white flowers and had the camera's exposure shut way down. By the time I caught my error, the bird had flown away. That I managed to capture an image at all speaks volumes about the wonders of computer manipulation.