inky cap?

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Mycology Alert! 

It has only been a week since Ijams volunteer naturalist Nick Stahlman raised our M.A.Q. (Mushroom Awareness Quotient) and now that we are looking...look what we found under the solar panels by the greenhouse: a colony of Shaggy Mane Inky Caps (Coprinus comatus).

Visible mushrooms are the above ground fruiting bodies of the much larger fungi that lives below the surface.

Some "shrooms" are remarkably ephemeral by nature. (Shameless book plug.) In less than 24 hours this cluster of inky caps has gone through their above ground maturation which ends with the mushroom's gills dripping liquid black spores that look like ink. Hence the name.

Nick is currently working on an Ijams mushroom checklist for us. He is a 2016 graduate of the TN Naturalist@Ijams program that we teach: 40 hours of classes, 40 hours of volunteering.

Interested in next year's series? Call Lauren about the 2018 class at 577-4717, ext. 135.

Nick Stahlman photo by Kristy Keel-Blackmon 

All that was left is an inky black spot. 

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last crawdad quest of season?

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The forecast is for the high 80s this Sunday afternoon. Join me for one last creek wade before the cool weather sends us scampering indoors?

Sunday, September 24, 2 p.m.

Crawdad Quest at Ijams

It's Family Adventure Sunday (Ages 6 and up) Bring the family to a creek wade in shallow water as we look for crawfish, dace, darters, shiners, stone-rollers, jewelwings and other aquatic creatures in Ijams’ Toll Creek. Participants should be prepared to get wet and muddy and must wear closed-toe shoes. (Old tennis shoes work best.) No one under the age of six allowed due to the depth of the creek. Meet at the Visitor Center. A change of clothes is highly recommended. The fee for this program is $8, members get a discount. Go online to register at ijams/events or by phone: 577-4717, ext. 110.

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Big Bug Safari

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Millipedes are harmless vegetarians that eat dead leaves. And sometimes appear on TV.

For three minutes yesterday, Millie, a yellow flat-backed millipede (Cherokia georgiana) was the most famous arthropod in town. Just ask Russell Biven. 

She and her spokesman appeared on WBIR’s Live@5@4. For the first time in the 19 year history of the program, a millipede was a featured guest. And why not? Without millipedes and their ilk, we would be buried in dead leaves in a matter of years.

Millie was there to promote Ijams' end of summer Big Bug Safari tomorrow at 2 p.m. part of the nature center's Family Adventure Sunday series. Each kid gets a swept net and plastic containers and we’ll roundup as many bugs—insects, spiders, millipedes and centipedes—as possible. Yee-haw! 

This is old school. Ijams has been connecting kids to nature since 1923.

For more information or to sign up call 577-4717, ext. 110 or go online to…

http://ijams.org/events/ijams-family-wildlife-series-summer-bug-safari-2/

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thrush aid and comfort

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For a naturalist, spending time indoors can be tantamount to torture. Because we know that just outside our brick and mortar something wondrous, tragic or perhaps even miraculous is happening. That is what drives us to be on the road less taken. We have no virtual world, our world is real. 

An hour ago I was outside helping my neighbor Dr. Gary move large chunks of a chestnut oak that did not survive the remnants of Hurricane Irma that passed through Monday night. The tree was old and huge, standing strong through dozens of storms but this one was its Waterloo. It is fortunate for us that his grown son Adam is a professional competitive lumberjack.

Returning home, walking up the driveway, I spooked a wood thrush that was forging the damp detritus to my right. It flew in front of me but smacked into my glass studio doors. Only a glancing blow yet still it fell to the asphalt before me twitching. 

I have picked up many birds after ramming into windows. I curse the glass and our need for it. Sometimes the damaged passerines are merely knocked loopy, sometimes they have broken necks. I always fear the latter but pray for the former as I hoped for this bird, giving it comfort and whispering sweet affirmations."You're OK, baby," "All is well," "I'm here for you." Things like that as I gently stroked its spotted breast. Its hard breathing and heartbeat clearly noticeable. 

The wood thrush is my favorite songbird that lives in the dense woods behind my house but the songster is only here in summer. Migration is well underway and I am somewhat surprised that this one is still even here. They spend their winters in lowland tropical forests in Central America but sadly, their population is on the decline so we can ill afford to lose even one. 

My wounded thrush blinked and panted much like a running back hit by Green Bay linebacker Clay Matthews. Its feet clinched. A death grip? Let's hope not. But wait, it moved its head right and left indicating its neck was not broken. It only needed another living being—that would be me—bringing aid and comfort, muttering "You're not alone." I have done this sort of thing before only to have the poor songbird die in my hand, but this care-giving act felt more positive. Its whacked senses slowly began to return.  

In time, it hopped up, standing on my outstretched palm, looked around as if to say, "I am thrush. I bid you adieu. I have miles to go before I sleep. Miles to go."

   

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Lynne's itsy-bitsy treefrog

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Frogs need water. They need to stay dampish plus that is where they reproduce. As the great Cole Porter wrote, "Birds do it, bees do it, even educated little fleas do it." But treefrogs really do not need that much water to do it.

Small backyard ponds work just fine but in lieu of that, Lynne Davis has found that her rain barrel can be a hotbed of activity. The above foursome took place in late summer 2016. And the photo below of the teenie-weenie, itsy-bitsy treefrog she took only recently 
 

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