Well, after a cancellation for rain, the week prior, (guess my weather magic is gone), nine club members had a wonderful outing looking for and learning about fungi with Jonathan. We are very lucky to have Jonathan as a club member. He was described as a knowledgeable mycologist and “High end”.
The outing started with a bit of very interesting and much appreciated information about the High Lonesome Nature Reserve from Art Goldsmith (also lucky to have him as a club member – albeit his humour sometimes got the best of us). Art pointed us in the right direction (along the Pond Trail) and right at the turn, the group got “stuck” in a small patch of woods that was overflowing with a huge variety of very interesting fungi. Jonathan could hardly keep up with the shouts of “Oh, look at this one!” Participant Renee was particularly good at finding interesting specimens. With Jonathan’s list, Art has been able to add a half dozen rare or uncommon species to the High Lonesome Nature Reserve lists. This was very important for the Reserve and I am sure he would encourage anyone hiking there to post their observations to iNaturalist to help with the documentation of species. Art has contributed photos of shelf fungus (polypore), Parrot Mushroom (so called due to its green colour), Gilophorus psittacinus which is uncommon and Gymnopilus voitkii which is rare. In fact, there were at least 3 uncommon species and 3 rarities found. I particularly enjoyed the Lactarius Indigo (Indigo Milk Cap – So blue! And rare!)
The Lobster mushroom was a very interesting fungi as it is parasitic. Bacteria is what colours the host mushroom red. The normally gorgeous Chicken of the Woods was found destroyed (by a greedy and careless forager). Please note, foraging is not allowed in a nature preserve except by the wildlife themselves (as was evidenced by the Beaver chomped trees). We encountered a number of other special plants such as leather wood and Indian Grass, and other critters such as the Eastern Newt and Winter Firefly. There were still a few summer birds moving through but the migrating sparrows seemed most abundant.
Participants found the mix of people and forest observations both very interesting and with the perfect weather, we had a hugely successful outing. A number of people were interested in the camera Jonathan was using to get his photos. It is an Olympus TG Tough 5. High Lonesome Nature Reserve is a joy in all seasons and I have never been disappointed with my visits. I would encourage you to go see for yourselves and please remember that the Mississippi Madawaska Land Trust counts on donations to preserve this and its other properties for the benefit of nature and for us to observe.
Please enjoy the pictures attached to the blog,
Jonathan’s links to his iNaturalist entries:
links to photos from Art Goldsmith:
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AmEWA3iLwpF3iZsq6JBfdkNnB6l8Ag?e=HSihIT
links to photos from Mark Guzewski:
https://markguzewski.smugmug.com/Around-Ottawa/High-Lonesome-Mushrooms/
Thank you to all wonderful the participants. And special thanks to Jonathan and Art.
