Friday, July 30, 2010

The TRUE Field of Chanterelle Joy


This is what it’s like, in the woods right now. Kind of puts last year’s field to shame. But, I got a late start on all this (Sept. '09), so this spring and summer is all new to me.

This is actually very close to last year’s big patch that I was so excited about, but when I found that one, this area had already faded, so I didn’t know.

I know I keep going ON and ON about the dang chanterelles, but it’s just so fun to walk into the woods, and walk out 2-3 hours later with enough of these beautiful, fragrant mushrooms that I can gives bags of them to friends.

Here’s some other fun chanterelle antics:


I’ve found a bunch of these crazy ruffled ones, and so have some friends. I’m working on finding out what’s up with this; some were even more impossibly cauliflowered.

Walnut Sphinx moth
Whoa! I picked this one and this marvelous bonus Walnut Sphinx moth was on it!  It didn’t seem to care one bit that I was holding up the mushroom and moving it around for 5 minutes as I took pictures; it never moved. It was pretty big—see my fingertips.

Amorpha juglandi
Extra double wonder-bonus—they tell me the caterpillar squeaks when disturbed!!!

3 comments:

  1. I found 3 moths while we were in Hickory, NC one morning. Do you know what they are? First one looks like the one you found.

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  2. Might help to link in the pictures :)

    http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/photo.php?pid=31326716&id=1457720444&ref=album

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  3. I start with my Golden Guide to Moths and Butterflies, then I end up at bugguide.net...they're an awesome resource.
    I don't think yours is a Walnut Sphinx--they have that wild wing structure, it wasn't just holding its wings funny. I think #3, the stealth-fighter streamlined one, is a Laurel Sphinx. I think that pretty yellow-orange one may be a "Rose Hooktip"--Oreta rosea. That other brown, one, that's like the LBM's...no idea.

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