Assorted unidentified gilled fungi from my rambles of the last day or so. Please post identifications in comments section!
Gomphidius?
This one is nearly two feet across.
Mycena? Tiny mushrooms sprouting from a stump.
Mystery fungi
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Author Archives: David George Haskell
Cockscomb coral fungi
The tips of the fruiting bodies are flattened and branched, giving them a "cockscomb" appearance. Species: Clavulina cristata. These were growing on leaf litter just off the Caldwell Rim trail in Sewanee. They are only a couple of centimeters high.
Young stick insect
Just a couple of inches long. Order: Phasmatodea. Species unknown.
Wikipedia has an excellent photo of the enormous diversity of stick insect eggs.
White
Hyphantria or Spilosoma moth resting on the sandstone base of the Tennessee Avenue War Memorial
Close up of head
Crown coral fungus
The repeated soaking rains have brought blooms of fungi into the above-ground world, reminders of the vast kingdom of decay that lies under our feet.
Crown coral (Clavicorona pyxidata) fruitbodies sprouting from an old log.
Painted turtle
Midland Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta marginata) basking at Lake Cheston.
Now is the winter of our discontent / Made glorious summer
The first garden tomato of the year:
Yes!
After another drenching rainstorm
Mist in the forest, like smoke.
Mosses exult in the moisture.
A summer tanager preens in the water droplets caught in the leaves at the top of a white oak tree.
Annual butterfly count
Despite a wet start with few butterflies visible, the day dried out and warmed up and finally yielded thirty three species, one shy of our record from 2008. The best butterfly of the day was a goatweed leafwing, a very rare species for Sewanee.
Students of the wind
Purple martins perch on the anemometers on the radio tower near Lake Cheston.
The anemometers were set up this year by Sewanee’s Sustainability Office to test the feasibility of wind-powered electricity generation. The martins probably have an edge in wind wisdom: they are gathering in preparation for their southward migration to Amazonia, powered by biofuels in the form of small flying insects.
David George Haskell 
