Sharpies, Shags & Shaggies

[Don Boucher]

11-3-08 Downtown Corvallis
I've been noticing more Sharp-shinned Hawks lately. At lunch time I
was rising around mushroom hunting and I heard the panicked chirps of
juncos and chickadees. Then a Sharp-shinned Hawk casually glided
through otherwise empty airspace. I've been noticing more Double-
crested Cormorants in the Willamette River in the last week. The
British term for cormorant is "shag."

So while Lisa found some Shaggy Parasols mushrooms, I found some
Shaggy Manes in our secret spot on campus. Three mushrooms were very
tall, opened and dripping with inky goo. The rest were buttons and
suitable for dinner. I found them in hard-packed soil with loose bark
between shrubs. Other mushroom hunters have recently found them next
to roads in hard-packed gravel. Shaggy Parasols are in the Lepiota
family while Shaggy Manes are inky-caps. We're going to have a very
shaggie-delic dinner tonight!

Don Boucher
www.neighborhood-naturalist.com