Life on the Outer Coast

My wandering kayak returned late this afternoon. It was nice to see it on the dock, looking more intensely red next to its white sibling. Had a strong urge to take it for a paddle tonight, but got lost in cooking and eating the halibut that Brian brought back. I hadn't really been thinking of the kayak as a fishing platform, but I've expanded my horizons. I have to admit that seeing Brian's fishing gear, including a hammer, halibut gaff and pole sitting on the seat of the kayak made me happy that Jackie didn't catch a fish. I had visions of Brian laying the halibut on the deck of the kayak and beating it with a hammer (this made me nervous), but I suspect that he holds the fish aloft and beats it senseless. Too afraid to ask.

The photos Brian took of the halibut and the lingcod on the deck of the kayak looked rather inspiring (the blood would have been lost on a red boat) as did the cooking fire on the beach. Inspiring of camping, not just killing. Brian doesn't bother with a stove, just uses a couple of rocks to hold the pot over a fire. I like the simple approach, but I probably would bring wine, coffee and chocolate. Botanical pharmacuticals should be a vital part of all excursions. I'm thinking that I need to take my new toy camping, hopefully it will be possible after the trip south.

I did claw my way through the tooth fungus I found on Sunday. The closest fit is Sarcodon calvatus (Hydnum calvatum in Arora). The most helpful comment in the Pacific Northwest Keys was that specimens don't usually match the descriptions... What I did discover in this exercise was that Dentinums are Hydnums and Hydnums are Sarcodons. Not too bad a change. I would have liked a photograph of this particular Sarcodon as it is a new one for my local list.

The feathers from the kill site looked like they were from a Western Screech owl. I was leaning in that direction, but not confidently. Found a handy web page with photos that helped. Despite having two injured hands (both swollen, from different forms of abuse, one nicely bruised too), the Bear lake hike was a good one. I'd like to spend alot more time in the area.

What I used to called Amanita pantherina is fruiting by the trail near the lake. It has a dark brown cap when young, when mature, the edge fades to yellow brown, while the center remains dark. The annulus is white, thick and almost skirt-like. The volva a series of concentric rings at the somewhat bulbous base. According to the Pacific Northwest keys A. pantherina has a more cup-like volva, so this one is either an unnamed variety of A. muscaria or a unnamed species. The Michael Kuo at the Mushroom expert site includes this type with A. pantherina until the genus treatment is complete. I looked briefly at Tulloss' keys , but was too lazy to do the required dissections.

I did look into another recurring mystery today (instead of working on my homework), the very large (for a liverwort) and colorful plant that I've collected at least three times is once again Mylia taylorii. I say once again because I 'm pretty sure I keyed out a specimen of this liverwort from the Pt. Brown muskeg. M. taylorii grows on rotten logs in open scrubby areas and muskegs (if not other sites). The green to orange to reddish leaves are unnotched and slightly concave at the base, the rhizoids were abundant enough to render the underleaves rather difficult to see.

Townsends warblers, robins, varied thrushes, and chickadees in the garden.