In Alberta, there are currently two species of Caenurgina (Pohl et al. 2018). Both species are considered difficult to decipher but the following is an attempt to ease the frustration. I have done my best to provide a key using Alberta specimens that show the separating features.

*This key is a DRAFT, a work in progress and will require improvements so please provide suggestions.

Here is the link to the key:

Observations I've submitted that I think are visually interesting, have good composition, and show the organism in a clearly identifiable way. Only including research-grade observations (for now). I want to get better at nature photography, and I want to keep track of my progress over time. I know the basic principles of photography, but I'm not used to applying them in the field. All photos were taken with an iPhone.
Extremely open to suggestions from anyone who sees this. What can ...

Today's weather was very cold and windy. There is barely any sun that is seen in the sky. As I started walking up this trail, I first observed many short plants such as clovers and what is seen in image 2. As I traveled up the hill, more spread-out trees were seen. Not only this but the area was significantly drier walking up the hill. This could be due to the change in elevation. Another observation was the change in the density of trees. On the lower level, there were thinner and close...

On this nature walk, I once again went on a TA led trek to Houghton Garden with a bunch of other Eco Evo students. The weather was very gloomy and overcast. During the walk, it was raining a bit and the soil and plants around us were very wet. I observed a lot of fungi during this walk and it might be because of the wetness in the environment due to the rain. This reminds me of how we learned that bacteria and fungi are major decomposers in our ecosystem and I wonder if wetness helps fac...

Yesterday I walked through the forest with another kid in the class. I did not find many fungi, but I did see some Parmelioideae, which is a type of fungi. I also saw some very small mushrooms, and a species of fungi that I had never seen before, and some moss.

Saw lots of fungi while out in the park last night! It was slightly drizzly but cool and peaceful, and a nice break from my back to back exams. I was impressed with the variety of fungal life I saw, and especially impressed with their ability to grow so far high up in the trees. I find the growth patterns of fungal colonies really interesting, with the way that they radiate outwards and expand in every direction to grow. It reminds me of the images of colonies that we looked at in class....

This morning I woke up at about 6:30 to go for a walk in Edmands Park and take pictures of these fungi. It was a beautiful morning and about 60 degrees with a slight breeze and a clear sky. I was worried I wouldn't be able to find five observations of fungi because I've never noticed very many fungi when I walk. However, I was surprised to find a wide array of different fungi from lichen and moss on tree branches to cute little mushrooms. This relates to what we've been learning in class...

Overall trip to Keyna in 2022

For this Journal I decided to walk around John Chesnut Park that is near my home in Florida. I decided to do this early this morning to go on a little morning walk and due to the fact that the weather yesterday was cold and rainy. But this morning was perfect, it was nice and cool which was great. Since the theme was fungi for this weeks nature walk, I mainly focused on trying to find as much fungi as I could. But, I was only able to find two types of fungi which inaturalist was only to ...

I like to walk in the morning when morning dews are still on the leaves. It was right after rain has stopped, so it was somewhat cold to walk. However, morning walk is still my favorite because the air feels so clean and clear. When I was first assigned to take photos of fungi, I did not think there would be a lot of fungi present in the wild. However, in a relatively short amount of time, I could see so many different kinds of fungi. One of them looks like a cotton candy, while one of t...

Welcome to the Summit Bioblitz,

please add anything you find during your time at the Summit classes and workshops.

Lots of Asters out, bees and plants turning colors

have fun, and find something you have never seen before!

Kevin

Today I went on a small nature walk around the reservoir at Boston college. I spent most of my time exploring the area around gate C. It was a cool damp morning, which was perfect for a fungi search. On my walk I came across a lot of fallen trees and branches so I took the time to thoroughly look through them. These places host an abundance of small life invisible if you are not aware. The wet tree trunks and branches had 3 different variations of fungi. One grew as any common mush...

This week for my walk, I went to the Houghton Garden Conservation Area with some other members from the class. The weather was rainy which made for very moist ground and the plants to appear wet. It felt nice to step away from campus and walk in an actual place with trails. We saw many trees and other plants as it was a woodsy area. We also walked over a little pound and saw some ducks swimming. The main thing that we were looking for was fungi. We saw many different types of fungi, some...

For this 2nd iNaturalist nature walk, I walked around upper campus looking for natural landscape and plants for about 35 minutes. For this one, I woke up early with some coffee and just strolled around. The weather was brisk, but very calm and serene because there was no one else around me so it made for a very relaxing morning. The way I can connect this back to one of themes from this week is to look at my observations from a microscopic level. If we were to look at some of the picture...

This morning, I decided to wake myself up with a nice refreshing walk through the Newton Woods, also known as Edmands Park. The theme of this week was fungi, so the location was perfect, since the woods is full of interesting fungi. I was mostly looking at tree bark and under shaded areas, since this is where fungi were most prevalent. I constantly found lichen, which wasn't surprising for the woods environment I was in. There were many different types, so I'm curious of the interactions...

This week I went to the Pine Tree Preserve next to the plex. It was an overcast morning with a slight breeze and everything was wet from the last few days of rain. I know that fungi are organisms that feed on organic matter so I started to look for examples of this in the Preserve. Right away I noticed how many organisms live on the sides of trees. Each trunk and branches contain its own neighborhood of living organisms. Three of my observations include such organisms. I spotted the most...

I walked on a trail in Boston College's Newton Campus. The temperature was slightly less than 60 degrees Fahrenheit or about 15.5 degrees Celcius. It was chilly but not too cold to be uncomfortable. On my walk, I took some photos of the fungi I saw. All the fungi I saw looked familiar, but they were still interesting to observe.

I woke up early this morning and walked around the neighborhoods behind upper campus. It was a perfect 60°, the birds were chirping and the ground was pretty wet. There was plenty of leaves and different varieties of trees around. I didn’t notice any obvious fungi like mushrooms, but I did see many kinds of lichens which are a form of fungi.

As of 8am EDST on Thursday, October 6, the 2022 Project PRAIRIE Bioblitz has produced 1,192 observations of 304 species by 105 observers. The 2021 Project PRAIRIE Bioblitz produced 1,170 observations of 318 species by 42 observers. We've already surpassed 2021 numbers of observations and observers. We need only 15 more species this year to surpass 2021. We can do it! Let's find 15 additional species by the end of the day Friday, October 5th.

I went to pine tree preserve, which is right across from the plex at 6:45 AM ish. The weather was in the low 60s with a gray sky. The ground was wet because it rained all night long. At first, I didn't think it was going to be easy to find many types of fungus. However, I saw fungus once as I started my nature walk. I was surprised to find several types of fungus in such a small area. This connects to class because we learned about diversity and microbes. Microbes and fungus co-exist in ...

Fungi
A critical appraisal (based on a biological/genetic viewpoint) by David Moore, from Britannica. [retrieved in October 2022]

Fungi were once considered plants. However, nearly all fungal cell walls contain chitin, which is also found in the exoskeletons of many invertebrate animals. In addition, both chytrid zoospores and animal sperm share in common the presence of a single posterior flagellum. As a result of these differences and extensive molec...

Feel the thrill of sighting one of these beautiful species.
Budawang Coast requires more Gang-gang Cockatoo sightings!
This year we sent out an alert to be aware of Gang-gang cockatoos starting to breed in August and September in the coastal areas of the Shoalhaven and further south in Moruya. To date there has been increased sightings around the Moruya area and one potential breeding sighting in the Berry area. We are encouraging citizen scientists to continue observing into Oc...

How are we progressing with finding these localities?

• indicates ones not found on iNat yet

500~ Karbonkelberg (SW Capteins Peak) !

• 162 Bonteberg South
• 98 Sirkelsvlei North

90 Olifantsbos !

• 73 Bonteberg East
• 72 Sirkelsvlei West

71 Teeberg !

• 27 Sirkelsvlei East

22 Bonteberg West !

• 15 Rooihoogte West;
• 10 Anvil Rock East

8 EJsespie...

This nature walk I began starting at BC, walked along the reservoir, and did most of my exploring once I entered the Forrest on the other side of the Reservoir. There I looked for fungi. The weather was less pleasant today; it was raining for most of the morning, but only sprinkled during my walk. I found a couple of different species of fungi or mushrooms while I was walking, along with ivy and a squirrel. I think most of my walk I struggled to find fungi because they were so hidden in ...

GLOBAL CITY NATURE CHALLENGE 2023 PLANNING:

Run by the Community Science teams at the California Academy of Sciences and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, the CNC is an annual four-day global #bioblitz at the end of April, where cities are in a collaboration-meets-friendly-competition to see not only what can be accomplished when we all work toward a common goal, but also which city can gather the most observations of nature, find the most species, and engage the ...

I went on a nature walk through the Pine Tree Preserve and I also made some observations on my way as I walked through the chestnut hill reservoir surroundings. I did the walk in the evening time. But the sky was unexpectedly still lit at that time. The weather was pretty chilly, as it has been for a few days now. And it was slightly raining (it was not too heavy, just a light pouring of rain).

I was initially anxious about getting observations for fungi, because I had not previo...

The nature walk on Wednesday revealed the commonality of fungus and their variants. It was an exceptionally humid and was drizzling for most of the nature walk, about 55 degrees. Walking from 2k apartments to the reservoir, I came across a small group of white mushroom. Once I came across the pine tree reserves there were plenty of variations of small mushrooms with different sizes and colors. There was noticeable lichen growing over the trees and rocks all over the pine tree reserves. M...

The 2022 Great Southern Bioblitz is just over three weeks away (Friday 28th to Monday 31st October), and we want your help in making observations of wild plants, animals and fungi here in Maroondah during the four days of the Bioblitz.

There are five 'Nature Discovery' activities on offer to help local community get involved and learn about the diversity of nature found here in Maroondah. More details here:

For today's walk, I wandered for 30 minutes around the forest near the Res. Today was a very monotonous day, so this walk felt very refreshing. However, it wasn't the most beautiful day since we are approaching winter and the sun was nowhere to be seen. On my way to the forest, I saw a group of fungi that really caught my attention for the shape that they displayed. After reaching the forest, it was most exciting to find fungi growing out of dead tree trunks which were rather fascinating...

Thanks everyone for continuing to share some amazing sightings. Loving them. Keep going - we are nearly at 1000 observations. @jmartincrossley has now passed 600 on his own.