Mushroom Hunting With My Macro Lens

It’s August, and we have had plenty of rain this past month, and that means mushrooms,  here,  in Northeastern Pennsylvania. 

My dad taught me and my bothers how to pick two species of bolete mushrooms from an early age. I was about three when he first took me searching for red tops and cozie mushrooms.  Some of my most cherished childhood memories were on these mushroom hunts.

I  have continued the tradition,  and hope to write more about it in a future blogs, check the archives search for past blogs about mushrooms. Today I will just quickly share some photographs of mushrooms I found, on my hike last weekend.  Some of which like this old man of the woods bolete mushroom I can identify. 

I now eat over 50 species of wild mushrooms but will not identify which are edible and which are not here on my blog since many mushrooms are poisonous and can make you very sick or even kill you. These jack ‘ o ‘ lantern mushrooms are very poisonous.

I would advise you not to eat any wild mushroom unless you are 100% it is edible.  Having provided that warning I not only enjoy eating them, I love the many colors, shapes and sizes that are found here in the woods of Northeastern Pennsylvania. This is a milker or milky mushroom,

so named because of the white latex like substance that oozes from the mushroom when cut or broken. 

Some, like these coral mushrooms are shaped differently then the common mushroom.

The color range from bright reds like this species of russula mushrooms 

to the bright yellow chanterelle mushroom 

or the black trumpets. 

I also came across some jewel weed or touch me not flowers and, as always is the case the insects found them too. 

I again spent more time that I had planned photographing the many colorful insects attracted to the flowers.  

Like mushrooms, I am always amazed by the many  species, and their different sizes and color. 

I also came across this tiny toad,

this newt or red eft 

and found this late season recently hatched egg shell but I am not familiar with the  birds that would best this late in the season. 

I gathered a nice variety of wild mushrooms , and enjoyed them for dinner. I love the summer and my hikes searching for wild mushrooms. Here is a link to some more photographs of mushrooms, insects and some other stuff I observed on my hike. Sorry but I am not going to tell you where I hiked, mushroom hunters don’t share that information. lol  https://keepyoureyespeeled.net/photographs-2017/nggallery/photographs-2017/mushroom-macro-hike-August-6-2017

Falling in love is like eating mushrooms, you never know if it’s the real thing until it’s too late.– Bill Balance