An Explosion of Fungi

The fall rains have arrived. On a very recent field venture I came across an explosion of the fungal world exposing itself. I know very little about fungi and mushrooms. My mushroom adventures have been limited to a occasional picking of chanterelles and another type that leads to enhanced neuron activity.

The first mushroom I saw was few scattered large white mushrooms pushing up through the moss.  

After that is was one species after another. With no guide book and limited past identification efforts, I simply enjoyed the remarkable variety of this ephemeral explosion of wonders in the forest ecosystem briefly revealing themselves. Perhaps I will take a run at trying to id some from the pictures for future reference. 

Facing off with Aegolius acadicus

While making my way through the forest I came face to face with Aegolius acadicus.  

The northern saw-whet is a small owl and this one made no effort to make an escape. I had been making a fair bit of noise smashing through a thicket of dense brush before weaving through some branches to meet this owl. Hawks and larger owls prey on them so being down at a low level in the thicker brush is a safer place. Unlike the barred owl that visited the house, this owl seemed fit and alert.

Barred Owl Last Visit

This is not a normal thing:

Barred owl on the ground 

The owl did not take flight when approached. I went about various projects after having been away for an extended time and hoped that the owl might recover from whatever was the cause of its ailment. But I was aware that this owl was under some significant distress. Alas, whatever ailed our visitor resulted in the owl dying the next night. 

I find it difficult to spot owls perched in the forest so am uncertain of our very local barred owl population. More often I hear great horned owls and only very occasional will hear a barred. This is the first barred owl I have seen at our house. I have seen great horned owls perched on the same wheel barrow in the picture above. 

Barred owls are relatively new arrivals to Washington State. They have expanded their range from eastern North America to across Canada to the Pacific Northwest. The arrival of barred owls has been one of the causes of the decline of spotted owls. Weins and others (2021) evaluated lethal removal of bared owls on spotted owl survival.

Opuntia columbiana

While on a field work venture along the Yakima River in central Washington I came across a patch of what I believe to be Opuntia columbia. I felt fortunate to have seen this patch before I walked into it as I was wearing light shoes. I was once no so fortunate while traversing an area above the Okanogan River.     

Patch of cactus on a high gravel bar above the river

I determined that the patch was broad enough and populated enough that it would be ok to extract a paddle.

Long thorns of Opuntia columbia?

I am nowhere near enough of a botanist to know if this cactus is Opuntia columbia, hence, my tentative identification. That said, I am pretty confident based on my review of Burke Herbarium. Desert Northwest provides a nice discussion of the various cacti species in Washington and discusses the botanical debates, but also comes down on this likely being Opuntia columbia. 

I enjoy seeing cacti in Washington State. Cacti do not have much of a presence in Washington even in the dry areas. This patch was growing on a cobble/gravel bar elevated above the river. The site is high enough that flooding must be very rare as there were some large ponderosa pines on the bar. The cobbles and gravel add to the dryness and have kept competition down just enough to allow the patch to thrive.

Phytoplankton, Puyallup River and Mount Rainier

I previously posted on phytoplankton-in-commencement-bay based on a set of oblique aerials I came across on the Washington Coastal Atlas. On a recent trip I got to see the phenomena myself including very good views of the source of sediment that feed the bloom in the bay.

Phytoplankton bloom in Commencement Bay

Puyallup River sediment discharge into the bay

Puyallup River on lower left with the source of sediment looming in the distance

The combination of andesite magma and grinding glaciers provides an abundant source of phosphorus to the bay via the Puyallup River.

Dirty late summer glacial ice extending down the lower flanks of Mount Rainier

Summit of the big mountain

Rocks of Bulson Creek and Bulson Creek Falls, Skagit County

I have had several ventures on the steep north slope of Mount Frailey above Lake Cavanaugh in Skagit County. These ventures were to assess alluvial fan hazards which has meant assessing the steep drainages above the alluvial fans. Like much of the Northwest Cascades bedrock exposures are sometimes limited to stream channels. Hence the steep drainages on the north side of Frailey Mountain provided a good opportunity to see the bedrock hiding under the thick forest landscape. The lower slopes of Mount Frailey are underlain by sedimentary rocks called Rocks of Bulson Creek.  

     Bob contemplating our route

Conglomerate of Bulson Creek

 

Note weathered perimeter of greenstone cobble 

The hard conglomerate of the formation forms cliffs and a few nice cascades on the stream Bob and I were exploring. The clasts in the conglomerate are derived from nearby metamorphic rocks of the Eastern Mélange Belt which is well exposed on the slope above this outcrop. The Eastern Mélange Belt consists of Triassic to Jurassic age ocean floor terrane thrust up onto the edge of North America. It is one of several accreted terranes in the Northwest Cascades.

The Rocks of Bulson Creek are Oligocene to Eocene and post date the terrane accretion. The Bulson appears to be deposited on the metamorphic rocks (Marcus, 1981) and appears to be a localized sedimentary in a localized basin that formed during the late to post Eocene time likely associated with the Devils Mountain-Darrington Fault (Lovseth, 1975 and Marcus, 1981). In the Lake McMurray area to the east the Bulson has clasts of Eocene to Oligocene volcanic rocks that are of local derivation.    

 

Distribution of Rocks of Bulson Creek from Marcus (1981)

Lovseth (1975) recognized the Bulson as a separate sedimentary unit than the similar looking Chuckanut Formation to the north. The Bulson is primarily marine while the Chuckanut is non marine. And while the base of the Chuckanut does contain locally derived clasts of Northwest Cascades rocks, most of the Chuckanut sediment is derived from a source area to the east of the Cascade Mountains at a time prior to the uplift of the range. 

The term Rocks of Bulson Creek is from Bulson Creek located along a section of the Devils Mountain-Darrington Fault Zone. The creek incises down through the rocks and providing good exposures of a section of the formation. On the day of my venture up Frailey Mountain I also had a project along Bulson Creek and got a view of Bulson Creek Falls over a layer of hard conglomerate. 

Bulson Creek Falls

  

Guarding the Cattle Guard

Upon approaching a cattle guard a local residence popped up to see what was coming. It stood there facing me. My anthropizing suggesting I was being challenged to proceed as this guard seemed to be standing its ground. I assumed it would be safe to cross and no harm would be befall either if us.