An Abundance of Mushrooms

Over the past month, New Jersey has received an extraordinary amount of rain. Most of it came in the course of two storms: a drenching rainstorm on August 14 and Hurricane Irene on August 27-28. Since then, the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee and other have kept the ground moist. The results of this month-long saturation were evident during my walk in Cheesequake State Park on Saturday. While the birding was slow, mushrooms were varied and plentiful. I do not know mushrooms very well, so these will go unidentified for now. If you recognize one, please leave a comment.

The star of the show was this red mushroom.

This was a close second because of its rich orange color.

Some mushrooms were tiny.

Others were large and cup-shaped.

At first I thought this black cup-shaped fungus was just a version of the one above that was past its prime, but then I realized there were a lot more like it.

This fungus resembled a flattened white blob, like someone spilled dough or batter on the ground.

This orange fungus grew from the end of a fallen branch.

This white fungus looked dainty compared to some of the others.