Favoritos de zitserm

Thallus lime green around the lobe margins, teal in the interior. White pseudocephyllae (photos 5,7,8).
Warty, pale green isidia (I think that's what those are) can be seen in photos 3 and 4 - these give the lichen a rough appearance, which is I guess where the name "Rough Speckled Shield Lichen" comes from.

The underside of the thallus is white.

These two squirrels were hard at work gnawing on the black walnut shells. I couldn't help but record this "Squirrel Symphony," or perhaps I should call it "Walnut Symphony." Small sweet morsels of nut meat await them once they gnaw through the hard shells. I usually resort to smashing the nuts with a hammer to extract the nut meat, but then again my incisors are not as strong as the squirrels'.

The owl couple was enjoying the morning sunshine, perched atop a Tulip tree, under the cover of bittersweet vines laden with the red and yellow fruit. I believe the larger bird, lower down, is the female. These two owls have been together since this past winter. I've been observing these birds for almost a year now. One of them, I believe the male, used to be a lot more flighty - he would take off as soon as I came within their view. Now, they sit comfortably and allow me to observe them both. I've watched these owls be harangued by crows and ravens - they have always remained in place and defended their perch.

Bright orange inner bark. Strips of bark were peeled off this American hornbeam, on the lower trunk. Perhaps these are antler rub marks of a White-tailed deer.

https://www.carleton.edu/arboretum/about/species/flora/shrub-guide/american-hornbeam/

This lichen was growing on a Red maple in the middle of a dried out vernal pool. I still managed to get my boots a bit wet, while trying to get to the lichens to photograph them. The H. minarum was growing alongside Punctelia missouriensis and some Cladonia.

Lobes are smooth, lacking pseudocephyllae. Much of the thallus surface is covered with brownish isidia, i.e., small projections which act as structures for vegetative reproduction. The isidia break off and are carried to other places by the wind, giving rise to a new thallus.

https://www.plantscience4u.com/2014/07/difference-between-isidia-and-soredia.html

This lichen was growing on a Red maple in the middle of a dried out vernal pool. I still managed to get my boots a bit wet, while trying to get to the lichens to photograph them. The Punctelia missouriensis was growing alonside Hypotrachyna minarum and some Cladonia.

Punctelia missouriensis was first described as a new species 30 years ago in 1992:
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/229445-Punctelia-missouriensis

Teal colored thallus with smooth, rounded lobes. The thallus is covered with numerous white isidia, which are essentially holes in the outer cortex, allowing the hyphae from the lower medulla layer to show through. The presence or absence of isidia, as well as their color is an important identification trait for lichens.

https://www.plantscience4u.com/2014/07/difference-between-isidia-and-soredia.html

I believe the host is an atypical Norway maple leaf (Acer platanoides) - probably one of the young leaves from the upper canopy.

Compare to Rhytisma americanum:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/140312043

R. acerinum consists of black "squiggly little islands", whereas R. americanum looks more like an actual maze. R. americanum has a pattern that radiates outwards, sort of like the dendrons radiating outward from a neuron.

This observation refers to the opaque gelatinous animal shown in the first few photos. This animal appears to be attached to another marine animal, which is orange in color. Also, there appears to be a species of sea lettuce attached to the orange animal. I think I also see a Brown bryozoan attached to the ascidian - see branched creature in the lower portion of the first photo.

https://www.marlin.ac.uk/species/detail/1566

Galls on a leaf of Rosa rugosa. On Discovery Hill, next to the main pathway, not far from the summit of the hill.

I spotted this first and photographed it right away. Then I told Matt about it, and he then photographed it:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/138295734

The audio clip includes the sounds of the geese plucking the grass. Soft sounds made by presumably a young goose, can be heard around second 30. They are similar to the sounds made by young swans.

One of the geese caught my attention because she had beautiful white dappling on her head and neck. This bird is shown in the second and third photos.

Growing on the bark and decorticated wood of a dead, standing hardwood tree near Tsuga canadensis, Tilia americana. Carpinus caroliniana, Quercus sect. Lobatae, Carya sp., Liriodendron tulipifera, Oxydendron arboreum, Magnolia acuminata, Magnolia tripetala Acer sp. and Rhododendron sp. Asci bitunicate and 8-spored. Spores hyaline, smooth, obovoid and 1-septate. Spore measurements: (16) 17.3 – 21.6 (22.1) × (4.9) 5.2 – 6.8 µm; Q = (2.6) 2.65 – 3.5 (4.2); N = 12; Me = 18.7 × 6 µm; Qe = 3.1

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Originally posted to Mushroom Observer on Feb. 24, 2022.

This was my first time seeing a Post oak in the fall. I had seen one small sapling out in the central pine barrens of Long Island this summer. This was one of several Post oaks here, at the northern section of Pelham Bay Park, well weathered by the winds and the salt air of the Long Island Sound. The crimson leaves were a sight to behold! The lower surfaces of the leaves were pink and velvety, with stellate (star shaped) hairs visible under a hand lens - presumably where the name Quercus stellata comes from. The leaves, with their distinctive, asymmetrical lobed shape - wide near the apex and narrow near the point of attachment - eventually will turn a warm pinkish brown color when they fall, as seen in some of the photos. The twigs were tan, fuzzy and had small reddish brown, round buds. The bark was flaky, reminiscent of Quercus alba. The windward side of the tree was missing much of the bark. The tree had a scraggly, scruffy, asymmetrical look to it and branches were missing.

On the underside of a moist, well rotted, decorticated hardwood log. KOH staining yellow.

Cream colored polypore, staining brown in some spots. Mostly effused hymenophore, but saffron colored reflexed caps can be seen in some places (see photo 5)

On a large Northern Red oak log, with Stereum fasciatum. The Phlebia is attached to the underside of the Stereum fasciatum. In photo 4, it looks like an entire fruiting body of Stereum fasciatum may have been absorbed by the Phlebia, leaving only a "shadow" behind. Or is it the Stereum that's eating the Phlebia? I will keep checking on these fungi to see who eats whom.

At 42 degrees Fahrenheit, the lanternflies were all in a torpor of some sort or they were dying from the cold. A few barely moved a leg or two. Some didn't move at all. They were clinging onto the trees, but when I took them in my fingers, they were mostly motionless and stiff. This particular lanternfly opened its wings to display the beautiful red inner markings. Perhaps that was her way of sending me an aposematic warning, saying "don't eat me!"