John Smalldridge

Very sad indeed. I never met him, but did rely on his writings and videos of him to inform and encourage me to learn about mushrooms. It's always sad when a enthusiastic educator passes.

Merry Christmas to all the members here! CajunShroomer, you may end up finding some oysters when the snow melts.

Here you go. Not true kings but a closely related species. found a few days ago under oak.

That's a nice camera you bought dualsetters. It's still your talent behind the camera that produces the nice photos. I'm looking forward to seeing more.

Cinnabars tend to have a spicy flavor when raw.

Wow! Chanterelles allready! I often find the cinnabars mixed in with C. minor. I still look for interveining and fragrance with all chanterelle species.

Nice pics. You'll find yourself going back to your previous unidentified mushroom photos to study and identify them as you gain experience.

I've found through macro photography of mushrooms that many times what you perceive as a clean prime specimen of a mushroom may actually have already been heavily infected with bugs. The damage may not be apparent at first, but upon close scrutiny you will see tiny bugs and tiny holes in the mushroom which the bugs produce. You may even notice tiny deposits left by the bugs (eggs or...). Also, the oysters that I find in the spring and summer usually always have bug infestation. That's why I much prefer the fall / winter oyster mushrooms. Based on what I saw last year during an early chanterelle season, the bugs were ravenous for the first mushroom fruiting of the year on which to feast and lay eggs. In many years, oysters may become their primary initial target.

That's an amazing haul Dave! Thanks for sharing the story of a great hunt along with the excellent photos.

It's hard to tell from the photos, but these appear to originating from dead wood. Also in the bottom photo, they appear very cup like. This would probably eliminate black trumpets. Also, I'm guessing it's a little early for black trumpets in your area.

I hope you get well soon and have a chance to get out and find your share of mushrooms.

Nice! Looks like it will do the job well.

Is it just me? or does anyone else notice that in some of the photos, the gills look almost free oh the stem?

Wow, those are some prime looking morels! It looks like another zero season for morels for me. I've already come across several other species of terrestrial mushrooms, so I guess the ground is too warm here to offer much hope of finding morels.

Nice finds Matt!