huelcox's Journal

The area in which the fungi was found is near a small tributary to the Willamette, Tryon Creek. The creek runs between some hills and valleys within a coniferous forest. Though it had snowed earlier in the week, it was soon melted by the sun. In the park, it is all wild and resembles the wildlife that can be found in the larger Mt. Hood National Forest. There was significant overgrowth of invasive species such as common ivy. Much of the fungus that was found grew on decaying trees. Many of which appeared to be hosts to other species living on them.

These observations were all taken in natural areas in Lake Oswego, Oregon. A naturally moist climate, this area of Oregon is near many water sources. In fact, all of these photos were taken near a major water source. The ones that were taken near South Shore Rd are near a man-made lake. The ones taken in George Rogers City and on Foothills Rd are within a kilometer of the Willamette River. Over the days that these photos were taken there had been alternating rain and sun. The Common Ivy that was observed is an invasive species that has taken over natural and most suburban areas within this area of Oregon.

My nature walk took me through a suburban park without any landscaping, and then to a pond of a similar sort. The park had a natural creek running through it that in some spots had natural obstacles, and thus in some spots, there was standing water. The pond was artificially made, however, the organisms present appeared to be native. An interesting behavior that I noticed between the Mallards and Canadian Geese was that the Mallards appeared to be using the Geese as predator protection. That is to say, the geese were quite aggressive and the mallards were behind them when I approached.