Readers’ wildlife photographs

November 21, 2014 • 5:26 am

Reader Ed Kroc sends some photographs from rainy British Columbia:

I wanted to send some pictures from a very rainy Thanksgiving trip last month to BC’s lower Sunshine Coast.  I am quite a mycological illiterate, so unfortunately the fungus comes unidentified.  Nevertheless, they are quite impressive specimens!  The first fungus grows like a shelf perpendicular to the trunk of a tree, with a weird concentric colouration.  The second fungus looks just like a stack of pancakes sitting on the forest floor (my hand is in the shot to give a sense of scale).

Readers can help identify these:

Shelf fungus

Stack of pancakes fungus
One thing you need to be on constant watch for hiking anywhere in the forests of BC is the ubiquitous and painfully slow Pacific Banana Slug (Ariolimax columbianus). [JAC: Wikipedia says this is the second largest terrestrial slug on Earth.) These guys come in various shades of yellow, tan, green, and black, and it’s hard to go more than fifteen or twenty minutes along a trail without nearly crushing one.  The one pictured here was relatively easy to spot as he/she was feasting on some broken piece of other unknown fungus.  With all the mushrooms bursting from the forest floor, the autumn months must be good times to be a slug.

Banana Slug with feast

Banana Slug with feast close-up

And a bird or two.  This Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis) is a young juvenile, digging through the mosses and the pebbles on the beach at Davis Bay.

Savannah Sparrow juvenile

The Horned Grebe (Podiceps auritus) was found fishing alone at dusk at Francis Point Provincial Park.  This one is in his/her winter plumage, which lacks the eponymous “horns” of summer that usually flare up from the sides of the head.  Still, the red eye commands a good amount of attention.

Horned Grebe at dusk

 

 

45 thoughts on “Readers’ wildlife photographs”

  1. The fungi are Fomes fomentarius — tinder fungus. They are fascinating creatures and sometime you can see really cool ones that have “shifted” their orientation 90 degrees. This happens when they initially grow on a tree that then falls over. Always trying to have the spore-bearing/-releasing side facing downwards, the fungus ‘turns around’ and continues to grow. One example can be seen here: http://www.nature-diary.co.uk/nn-images/1102/110216-fomes-fomentarius-2.jpg

  2. The first one is a bracket fungus, and I do not know the 2nd one.
    I have always wanted to meet a banana slug, as they seem pretty impressive.

      1. And their diet is remarkably diverse. I once came across one feeding on 2 chicks that were in a nest. I would have moved the slug (I know you’re supposed to let nature run its course, but I’m weak) but I didn’t move it because neither of the nestlings were moving.

    2. My 6th-grade son fell in love with banana slugs when we got a chance to visit Muir Woods. I think they are still his favorite animal, so we naturally had to get him several UC Santa Cruz T-shirts.

  4. I live on the lower Sunshine Coast near Davis Bay. I have always known the first one as a shelf fungus. There are quite a few species that grow here, either that or it is quite varied in size and colouration. They are hard and can grow for several years, putting down those rings as they grow larger.

    This is the time of year when the mushrooms proliferate across the ground here and I see that the signs are back up along the highway, advertising to buy from people that go out in the forest to find them. I know Chanterelles are one of the varieties they get.

    1. Chanterelles are probably the most popular here in Western Washington, but I have a friend who harvests Porcinis as well. Those are probably my favorite culinary shroom.

    1. They’re native to most of the North American Pacific coast. I think many creatures will eat them, raccoons, coyotes, various birds.

      1. I think many creatures eat them as a last resort. They have an incredibly thick slime, and based on their diet, I would think they would taste pretty awful. I have 2 d*gs, and I often see them eating the d*g’s feces while I’m doing “poo patrol”. mmmm, protein.

  8. The bracket fungus appears to be a kind known as the ‘turkey tail’, b/c of its bright bands of colors.
    Here is some info on it. There is some interest in its possible medicinal qualities.

  9. The first photo most likely is a Fomitopsis pinicola (red belt fungus). The red layer delineates the older growth from the present one.

    The second one is fascinating and is unknown to me.

    The third has pores/tubes so all gill ‘roomies are eliminated. Its brown cap is slippery so it could be a bolete.

  10. Someone should mention that banana slugs, which I believe are a native species, are also the official mascot of the University of California at Santa Cruz. You can buy sweatshirts with the banana-slug logo.

    Around here in gardens we mostly have brown slugs that are invasive species. Banana slugs are predominant in mature forests.

    As for the bracket fungi, we’ve got a piece of log in our backyard covered with them.

  11. I love banana slugs – I took lots of pictures of them as well when I was in the forests of BC. I remember being fascinated by their size & put a car key next to one for size comparison. I bet chipmunks would love eating a nice juicy slug like that!

    However, I wasn’t worried about slugs in the forest, I was worried about coming across a bear since there were signs everywhere warning about bears. In Southern Ontario, where I live, you don’t really have to watch out for much in the woods as most things are too small to eat you.

    1. Lol, yeah they really try to make sure everyone is very bear aware. Which is a good thing, definitely. It’s taken me awhile to acclimatize psychologically, but I’m usually pretty comfortable hiking around now knowing that there are far more interesting – and less irritating – things for a bear in the forest than a smelly human. In a lot of ways, it’s like getting over a fear of flying. You always hear about the extremely rare disasters, which skews your perception of just how rare those things are.

      1. Always make a lot of noise while hiking in bear-prone areas. If you are quiet and accidentally sneak up on a bear, you can trigger aggressive behavior by startling it. We used to clasp bells on our jackets or fishing rods to make sure bears were aware of our presence. They’ll take off before confrontation.

        1. Works great against black bears, but different precautions should be taken in grizzly bear country. As such, one should learn the difference between black bear scat and grizzly bear scat.

          Black bear scat is smaller and generally contains the remains of berries and leaves and maybe some fur.

          Grissly bear scat is larger and has a similar composition, with the addition of the type of bells one hangs from backpacks….

          b&

          1. Grizzly bears still worry me, with their extra-aggressiveness and “bite that can crush a bowling ball” (at least, according to Wikipedia). That’s a big part of the reason why I love hiking on Vancouver Island so much: grizzly bears never extended their range there. Anywhere on the mainland though, like the Sunshine Coast, and I can’t help but feel less at ease.

          2. They are beautiful animals, though.

            I’ll similarly admit to feeling more relaxed about hiking in Phoenix South Mountain Park, where the largest carnivores are coyotes, than elsewhere in the state that there could be mountain lions. You’re vanishingly unlikely to spot one, and, if you do, very unlikely to be attacked…but, if you are attacked, you’re very unlikely to survive….

            b&

          3. Good distinction between the species. Here I was referring to black bears. For Grizzlies, bring pepper spray, fireworks, and a firearm. Guides I’ve been with use salt or bean-bag 12 gauge shells so they don’t deeply wound the animal. But they also bring slug back-up just in case you get a really ornery bear. I’ve been in one close call where the spray and fire crackers didn’t scare off an adolescent grizzly, but a couple salt-shell shots got the bear to move away far enough for us to get the hell out of his/her fishing hole. That was a heart-pounding experience.

  13. Thanks for the NW photos. A real treat for one western Washingtonian. I love hiking around this time of year spotting the multitude of mycology. The orange and yellow jellies are some of my favorites.

  14. Having grown up in a logging community in NW Oregon I am familiar with fungus #1. We would get them from logger friends and use them as an art canvas to draw pictures on. The underside is pure white and when touched it becomes brown. You can draw on them with most any pointed object and the image will be permanent.
    We did not have an ecological mindset in those days. If I went back there today I imagine that the mindset will not have changed. Damned spotted owls.

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