Schneider's Bush
Waterloo, ON
7 October 2014
One of the wonderful things about belonging to a local naturalists' club is the pleasure of going on one of the many walks conducted by the club. And so it is with the Kitchener-Waterloo Field Naturalists, of which I am privileged to be President this year.
Yesterday, I took part in a walk conducted by Dale Ingrey, one of our distinguished members, through Schneider's Bush, one of the signature natural areas in our region. This walk was designed to take advantage of a fine fall day and to observe anything and everything that presented itself to a naturalist's curious eyes and ears. I didn't record the exact number of participants but it was in the order of nine or ten and we had a fine time under Dale's convivial and knowledgeable leadership.
In the beauty of the autumn woods the following fungi caught my attention.
It seemed especially beautiful and the presence of the fungi on the ancient log on the forest floor seemed like a textbook illustration of nature recycling every component of the ecosystem.
My knowledge of things mycological is pretty sparse so I turned to my good friend Janet Ozaruk, a past president of the club for help in identifying it.
It is in fact a PEZIZA REPANDA, quite common, and usually found on rotting logs, or occasionally on the forest floor. There are a number of species of this type of cup or sac fungi, many requiring microscopic examination to identify.
I learned something new!
And to cap off the cycle of participation by the KWFN the property we walked over is owned by Jane Schneider, another member of our club, who so generously permits her property to be enjoyed by the public.
It's a good thing to belong to the KWFN!
