The Bobolink bird is a small New World blackbird and the only member of the Genus Dolichonyx. An old name for this species is the “rice bird”, from its tendency to feed on cultivated grains. Adults are 16–18cm. long with short finch-like bills and weigh about 28g. Adult males are mostly black with creamy napes…
The Blue-throated Vireo is a stocky small songbird with medium-length tail and fairly heavy, hooked bill and thick legs. It is a moss-green bird with a bluish-gray head and crisp white underparts. The face is set off by clean white “spectacles” and a throat. Blue-throated Vireos forage at middle heights in mature trees, where they…
When looking at Black-throated Green Warbler photos, you’ll see a medium-sized warbler similar in size and shape to many others in the Setophaga genus. It is plump and seemingly large-headed, with a thick, straight bill and short tail. The brilliantly colored male often perches out in the open to sing, perhaps on a high twig…
The oldest and largest living organisms on earth are also fungi. They recently found fungi fossils in Russia which are 547 Million years old! Tylopilus is a genus of over 100 species of fungi separated from Boletus. Its best-known member is the bitter bolete (Tylopilus felleus), the only species found in Europe. More species are found in North America,…
Glomalin, a by-product from mycorrhizal fungi, can capture and store carbon in the soil, removing it from the atmosphere which can help control climate change. Is Tylopilus Plumbeoviolaceus edible? Is Tylopilus Plumbeoviolaceus safe? The answer to both questions is no, so stay away. First described in 1936, the mushroom has a disjunct distribution, and is distributed…
Radiation-loving mushrooms were even used to clean up the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan. Trametes Versicolor – also known as Coriolus Versicolor and Polyporus Versicolor – is a common polypore mushroom found throughout the world. Meaning ‘of several colors’, versicolor reliably describes this fungus that displays different colors. These colors are important in Trametes Versicolor identification. For example, because its shape and multiple colors are similar…
Researchers have measured up to 8 miles of fungi filaments in one teaspoon of soil. Trametes Gibbosa, commonly known as the lumpy bracket, is a polypore mushroom that causes a white rot. It is found on beach stumps and the dead wood of other hardwood species. Fruit bodies are 8–15 cm in diameter and semicircular in shape. The upper surface…
Trying to find an alternative to the fountain of youth? The first use of a type of fungi called Ganoderma Lucidum can be traced back to the Han Dynasty, and was dubbed “The Mushroom of Immortality” in the Book of Han. The Trametes Elegans mushroom is a common polypore and wood-decay fungus with a pantropical distribution found on hardwood hosts in…
Over 90% of the described fungi are classified either as basidiomycetes, which produce mushrooms or smuts that cause plant disease, or as ascomycetes, which includes yeast or truffles. Suillus Spraguei is a species of fungi in the Suillaceae family. It is known by a variety of common names, including the painted slippery cap, the painted suillus or the red and yellow suillus. The readily…
In contrast to plants, fungi do not have chlorophyll, lack leaves and roots, and never form flowers, fruits, or seeds. The Lactarius Gerardii Complex is oftentimes very difficult to identify. Characteristics include its distant white gills, which run down the stem; its white, unchanging milk; its white spore print; and its failure to stain or…