These shelf mushrooms were easily spotted from quite a distance. Being out in the open and bright orange-red made them conspicuous.

They are farther away than they look – the camera’s view at 18x zoom about a 1000 feet away.

Turns out they were also fairly easy to identify since bright orange is not a common color when it comes to polypores.

Cinnabar Red Polypore – Pycnoporus cinnabarinus

Cinnabar Red Polypores are saprobic preferring hardwoods and rarely grow on the wood of conifers. These were growing on a dead cherry tree that had probably toppled over last year.

I liked the way this one oozed before it formed the shelf.

Look at the underside of one of these shelf mushrooms and see why it’s called a polypore.

These are annual mushrooms widely distributed in North America but a number of sources state they are rare. At mushroomexpert.com (my first stop whenever I attempt to ID a fungus) the author said he’s only found them twice over a period of 15 years in central Illinois. Looks like I got lucky. But not that lucky, the Swedish Bikini Team still eludes me.

July, 17, 2010
Stillwater Club
Town of Clare, St. Lawrence County, NY
Near the Middle Branch of the Grasse River

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…and now for something completely different because there’s not much sense making a whole post with only half a subject.

This millipede is no more. It’s only a partial husk of it’s former self.

Even with the head and some legs missing you can tell this was a millipede. The ‘two pairs of legs per segment’ gives it away.

Live millipedes are pretty much harmless. They don’t bite or sting but rather curl into a tight coil when threatened. Some have chemical defense mechanisms that might cause skin irritations and it’s one reason I don’t place them on my wife’s neck. I shudda collected that husk and used it. After the screaming was over you’d know the other reason why I don’t dare.