Perrenoud Wildlife Habitat Area

An exciting moment two days ago, when I was with a couple of friends at the Perrenoud Wildlife Habitat Area, north west of the city. I had just been trying to photograph a teeny, orange slime mold - the kind that looks like tiny, shiny, orange "balls" on thin, white stalks. I bent over the log a couple of inches further and to my amazement, saw the tiniest splashes of brilliant turquoise - a totally unnatural looking colour in the forest : ). So small, but a macro shot gives you an idea of my find, even though it's far from sharp. Not sure if this is Chlorociboria aeruginascens / Blue Stain or something else. Microscopic examination is required in order to tell the difference. Doug, I know you said the name when we were there, but I can never remember any names by the time I get home. Help! www.mushroomexpert.com/chlorociboria_aeruginascens.html

Another photo from the archives - again, I was looking for something green for today, St. Patrick's Day. Photographed this Lichen at the Perrenoud Natural Area, NW of Cochrane, on 18 June 2010.

This was a rapid, two-shot chance, but at least I managed to get one photo that is fit to post (horrid, messy background, though), LOL. Seen briefly at the Perrenoud Natural Area, north west of Calgary and north west of Cochrane. Thanks, Art and Terry, for the exact ID!

LOL, almost sounds like an item off a fancy restaurant menu! This was such a beautiful tree branch, covered in Red Tree Brain fungus and orange jelly fungus, maybe Witch's Butter (?). It was a wonderfully colourful sight! This was taken when we went to botanize the Perrenoud Natural Area, north west of Calgary and north west of Cochrane on 18th June. We were lucky enough to see two young Great Gray Owls in the forest there, too. "In 1980, George Emil Perrenoud donated this land to the Alberta Sport, Recreation, Parks and Wildlife Foundation for the purpose of a wilderness park for the benefit of the residents of the Province of Alberta." tpr.alberta.ca/asrpwf/programs/parks/park_and_wildlife/pe...

This is such a tiny wild Orchid and it usually grows in solitary stalks or maybe a couple of plants together. The cluster in my image was huge for this species, maybe 5" or so in diameter. Seen two days ago at Perrenoud Natural Area, NW of Cochrane (which is NW of Calgary). "There are 3 to 15 flowers in a loose cluster at stem tip; individual flowers about 1 cm long, yellowish-white to greenish or even purple, 6 floral parts with a white lobed lip (occasionally spotted with purple); appearing early summer..... Infrequent but widespread; in shaded forest habitats, in thickets, fens, swamps and on streambanks; especially on fresh/moist mineral soils." www.borealforest.org/herbs/herb10.htm

Was so happy to see this little cluster of mushrooms a week ago in the Perrenoud Natural Area, north west of Calgary and north west of Cochrane. Very slowly, the odd mushroom is appearing - great, having waited almost a year for mushroom season again : )

The sunlight in the forest was in just the right place for these two Horsetails growing in front of a fallen log. The almost seemed to glow. Seen on June 18th at the Perrenoud Natural Area, north west of Cochrane (which is north west of Calgary). "Equisetum (pronounced /ˌɛkwɨˈsiːtəm/) (horsetail, snake grass, puzzlegrass) is the only living genus in the Equisetaceae, a family of vascular plants that reproduce by spores rather than seeds. Equisetum is a "living fossil", as it is the only living genus of the entire class Equisetopsida, which for over one hundred million years was much more diverse and dominated the understory of late Paleozoic forests. Some Equisetopsida were large trees reaching to 30 meters tall; the genus Calamites of family Calamitaceae for example is abundant in coal deposits from the Carboniferous period." From Wikipedia.

Because I know so little about identifying fungi, I went over to Doug's (dougwaylett) photostream to get the ID for this beautiful purple fungus (which I would never have seen if he hadn't shown it to me in the field!). Seen on a day of botanizing at the Perrenoud Natural Area, on June 18th. His photo is better and closer than mine : ) "Chondrostereum purpureum 'Silver-leaf fungus' (?). A beautiful purple or violet colored polypore fungus along with Peniophora rufa 'Red Tree Brain' growing on a dead poplar branch." Thanks so much, Doug!

These are one of my favourite kind of mushrooms (tiny) and were growing early last year - just noticed that I took this photo on June 18th at the Perrenoud Natural Area. The peak of our fungi season is the month of August.