May 6th Photo-A-Day F

Photo-A-Day F is for fun. F for forest. F is for a very bad cuss word. F could be so many things but I chose F for FUNGUS.

Okay, don’t get all excited. I’m not going to show you a toenail or some gross skin condition. I am not that mean. Well, I am but, not today I’m not.  You are welcome.

Bear and I went on our daily nature walk. I am bound and determined to find discarded antlers. We have so many bucks all year and I just KNOW someone dropped at least ONE antler on the property. Right?!?!
Yes, I know…. shiny….sidetracked…… back to my F during this hike Bear and I found these things attached to the base of a couple of trees:
Photo-A-Day F
Truthfully, I first thought it was a pipe, old lantern top or piece of trash.
I asked The Husband and he said it’s a Fungus. I had to look this up cause really? “whaddya mean it’s a fungus??” This thing is SOLID. I mean solid as stone. Yes, I did attempt to remove it from the tree (I really did think it was a piece of trash).
However after stepping on it, pulling at it and breaking a fingernail I am hear to report said FUNGUS is still firmly attached to the tree.
It really is pretty and the picture doesn’t do it justice.
It’s called a CONK.
A conk grows on the trunk–a sure sign the birch is decaying from the inside out. Conks, also known as shelf fungi or bracket fungi, are an external indicator that a tree may be rotten inside. Since it was a stump I can attest it is a dead tree.
I’m loving the picture a day prompts.

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