A Quick Walk in the Woods

We took a quick walk into Boyle Ravine Thursday afternoon, hoping to photograph a few items that would likely get buried by the forthcoming snowstorm.  It's now Saturday, and we've gotten very little snow.  But I got photographs of a nice variety of fungi.  Although not as photogenic, the ones that had not quite broken the surface but had pushed up little mounds of pine needles were the most intriguing.  There were also patches of wide-spread caps of a given species that made one wonder at the underground mycelium connecting them all.  As one of my professors used to say, "Don't call it dirt.  It's soil.  And it is a complex community made up of literally millions of organisms, not just broken down rock.  The fungi, of course, are involved in many food-chain relationships with plants and animals.  In fact, most plants are in obligatory relationships with soil fungi.   Our hike lasted only about a half hour, but I saw enough to make me hope the snow will hold off a while longer.  I need a few more visits to Boyle Ravine before I can accept its turning white for several months.