Macro puffballs

Happy first day of FALL! Where did the summer go??

Yesterday morning, 22 September 2015, I was out with friends on a three hour birding walk at Mallard Point, Fish Creek Park. A beautiful sunny day, with the temperature between 8C and 13C, and 44 bird species were seen (not all by me, as usual). The American White Pelicans and the Cormorants are always favourites of mine. Will add the list compiled by the leaders:

Canada Goose-40
Gadwall-4
American Wigeon-10
Mallard-30
Blue-winged Teal-12
Common Merganser-12
Ring-necked Pheasant-1 m.
Pied-billed Grebe-1
American White Pelican-27+
Double-crested Cormorant-12
Osprey-1
Sharp-shinned Hawk?-1
Merlin?-1
BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER-1
Killdeer-2
Greater Yellowlegs-5
Franklin’s Gull-5
Ring-billed Gull-150
Rock Pigeon-2
Belted Kingfisher-2
Sapsucker sp.,-1
Downy Woodpecker-2+
Hairy Woodpecker-1
Northern Flicker-6
Olive-sided Flycatcher?-1
Blue Jay-2
Black-billed Magpie-6
American Crow-4
Common Raven-6
Black-capped Chickadee-8
Red-breasted Nuthatch-1
White-breasted Nuthatch-2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet-1
Swainson’s Thrush-1
Hermit Thrush-1
American Robin-60
European Starling-12
Yellow-rumped Warbler-1
White-throated Sparrow-1
Dark-eyed Junco?-1
House Finch-3
Pine Siskin-6
American Goldfinch-1
House Sparrow-4

After the walk, friend Sandy asked if I wanted to go back to the place SW of the city and SW of Millarville, where I had managed to spot (on 17 September) a group of three mature Amanita muscaria (Fly Agaric) mushrooms. We don't get the bright red ones with white dots here (the kind that you see in children's fairytale books), but we very occasionally come across a yellow or orangy one if we are very lucky. I think I have only ever seen these three times - at West Bragg Creek, Rod Handfield's land and I think Marsden Creek in Kananaskis. I was so longing to see one again and thought it was worth the drive just to check. Well, I found the field easily, but had forgotten about the sign there that said No Trespassing, No shooting, Patrol Area. I wasn't sure what Patrol Area meant, but I could almost imagine several Dobermans being released to attack me! I never go anywhere that has a No Trespassing sign, anyway. So, I walked through the trees along the edge of the field and tried to peer into the field, being careful not to catch the barbed-wire fence. I caught sight of a cluster of three fungi that looked like they were Amanitas, though they were fully "opened" and I couldn't see any spots. Only managed to get one really poor photo. Since then, I learned that this location is actually part of Rod Handfield's land - I thought it belonged to someone else. Rod had always told our botany group that we were welcome to explore his land at any time.

When Sandy and I called in yesterday, we were able to check for any Fly Agarics - not a single one to be found this time, not even the three I had found the other day. Several years ago, there was quite a large patch of them right there. It's a bit late in the fungi season, unfortunately. We wandered through the forest just a little way - such a beautiful, rich forest floor. Found the little Puffballs in my photo growing on one of the logs. We have all reckoned that this forest is one of our favourites, with so many things to be found. However, for some reason, we haven't had any trips out there the last three or so years.

"A puffball is a member of any of several groups of fungi in the division Basidiomycota. The puffballs were previously treated as a taxonomic group called the Gasteromycetes or Gasteromycetidae, but they are now known to be a polyphyletic assemblage. The distinguishing feature of all puffballs is that they do not have an open cap with spore-bearing gills. Instead, spores are produced internally, in a spheroidal fruitbody called a gasterothecium (gasteroid ('stomach-like') basidiocarp). As the spores mature, they form a mass called a gleba in the centre of the fruitbody that is often of a distinctive color and texture. The basidiocarp remains closed until after the spores have been released from the basidia. Eventually, it develops an aperture, or dries, becomes brittle, and splits, and the spores escape. The spores of puffballs are statismospores rather than ballistospores, meaning they are not actively shot off the basidium. The fungi are called puffballs because clouds of brown dust-like spores are emitted when the mature fruitbody bursts, or in response to impacts such as those of falling raindrops." From Wikipedia.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puffball

Many thanks for driving out there yesterday, Sandy - much appreciated!