Rainy weather opportunists

Give the yard just a little rain (about an inch in the last several days) and things that have been lying in wait through the dry summer come to life.  The flying ants (not sure what they really are) that usually emerge in huge clouds in the middle of the summer were not around this year until now.  And even now, there aren’t as many of them as usual.  This is fine with me.

Also Fungi that I haven’t seen much of all year are coming up all over now.  These I tend to like, or at least find interesting and beautiful.  There is quite a variety in the yard.  Here are photos of a few that I found on my morning walk around.  

 

 

 

 

 

Mysterious Garden Inhabitants

To me, one of the most interesting things in this yard has been the frequent appearance of a fungus that I originally thought was very unusual, but which has come to be amazingly common, at least here. I had heard about it prior to moving here, but never seen it. Maybe because it is so small, and so easy to overlook. But even though I've seen it here many times before, I've never noticed it so early in the year. Indeed, it is appearing just as the snow clears away from a patch of ground.

It does seem to be associated with the wood chips that we use as mulch thoughout the yard. I've seen it in many different locations. Called Birds Nest Fungi, members of the order Nidulariales are often "seen on decaying wood and in soils enriched with wood chips or bark mulch" according to Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nidulariales Our species is most likely Cyathus striatus