Mushroom Monday - Some Spring Finds from Years Ago

Here are some mushrooms from a couple years ago during spring in Wisconsin for this #mushroommonday

I was up near the Effigy Mounds National Monument and found quite a few golden oysters. This little batch were just pinning before they got dried out and stopped growing. They look fairly exotic stuck at this stage.

Here are a few that made it past their pinning stage. They will eventually grow into nicer large golden oysters.

Finally some nice large ones. These are at the perfect stage to harvest them. These ended up being grilled in a stir fry with some chicken, bell peppers, tomatoes and rice.

Meanwhile as I was admiring the golden oysters I saw a shiny black rat snake looking at me. Snakes emerge during the spring nice and shiny after a molt ready to bask in the warm sun. I wasn't quite fast enough to catch him though.

I found what looked like a wood ear but given a closer look it turned out to be a Peziza badia instead.

I found some others nearby that showed their sandy underside. These peziza are technically edible but they have a gritty sandy texture to them so that makes them not palatable.

Here is an unidentified polypore. It sort of resembles turkeytail but these are a bit larger than turkeytail and their white color is a bit uncharacteristic of turkeytails.

I think these ones might be sulfur tufts. Also I just noticed there is a strange looking plant hopper to the right of the largest mushroom. Maybe its a buffalo leaf hopper in a nymph stage.

Finally here's a common sight during spring in the midwest. These little scarlet elf cups are everywhere in spring and fall. They are easy to overlook because they are so tiny. Technically they are edible but bland and tasteless. They can be used as a cool garnish for a plate if you find some of the larger ones.

That's all for now, happy #mushroommonday