Pixie cups found under jack pines, spruce

Old friends returned to the meadow this week.

I woke up Saturday morning, Sept. 30 to a flock of juncos. I think they may have arrived Friday, but by Saturday they were popping over the driveway, poking about for seeds.

Multi-colored Asian ladybeetles also returned Saturday, swarming over the southern and western walls of the house and studio. I haven't seen these numbers since the fall of 2003.

I also found one of my favorite fungi Saturday: a hawk's wing mushroom. I've written before about Hydum imbricatum, but it's one of my favorite mushrooms, and it's a unique one, too. Along with having a brown and white cap that looks like the underside of a hawk's wing, this mushroom has soft spines or teeth instead of gills.

Around Sept 20, I saw examples of another one of my favorite mushrooms, Amanita muscaria, variation formosa. Maybe you saw this fly agaric mushroom, too - it's yellow-orange with white spots on it. My amanitas didn't last long under the trees and I'm guessing squirrels got them.

I've also been seeing a large American toad on our patio. He first showed up Monday, Oct. 1 at 6 a.m., and he was back Wednesday, Oct. 3 at 4 p.m. By the time I went back inside to get my camera Wednesday, though, the toad had hopped off.

I guess my reputation as a toad nabber and photographer has gotten around.

Sparrows

Stan from Becida saw both Harris and white-throated sparrows under his feeders Wednesday, Sept. 27. By Sept. 30, several white throated sparrows had made it to John and Marlene Weber's house on Spider Lake.

Wednesday, Oct. 4, a fox sparrow showed up at the Webers.

Stan said he has also been noticing many bluebirds along the roadsides in Rockwood and Fern townships. "I saw seven at once, sitting on the wires," Stan wrote.

I continue to hear and see bluebirds here in eastern Becker County. I've also been regularly spotting a mature bald eagle feeding on road kill just east of Itasca where Highway 71 curves east.

Palm warblers were spotted in Bemidji as late as Sept. 27.

Gray fox

Linda Jackson sent me a small photo of a gray fox that showed up in her backyard to eat corn.

"Later we learned he can climb trees," Linda wrote. "Which explains what happened to the new bag of suet we had put out for the woodpeckers."

I've only ever seen a red fox, but the fox in Linda's photo looks just like the photo in Stan Tekiela's "Mammals of Minnesota Field Guide." Stan says gray foxes are actually sometimes called treefoxes because they do climb trees to escape larger predators.

Once in a tree, a gray fox can jump "from branch to branch and had been seen up to 20 feet high."

Gray foxes are less common than their red brothers.

Late bugs

John and Marlene Weber reported seeing half a dozen yellow-legged meadowhawks Oct. 4. Last year, these dragonflies were on the wing through Nov. 7. John also said he'd received a report of a monarch on thistles Sept. 21, as well as a "fresh" mourning cloak butterfly Sept. 24.

Liking lichens

Saturday was such a beautiful day I went poking around in the woods. Not only did I find the hawk's wing mushroom, I also found a wide variety of lichens and mosses. I took many photos that I'll run in the column in the coming weeks, but I chose to start with pixie cup lichens (or possibly false pixie cups). These tiny lichens are just a half to three quarters of an inch high and a quarter of an inch across. They are greenish gray.

Thank you to all who wrote with news. When sending your reports, be sure to give your name and a little information on where you made your sighting. Send to maureeng@unitelc . com no later than 8 a.m. Thursdays. If it's easier, feel free to drop a letter by the office, or in the mail.

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