Dusty McDusterson (He/Him) 🍄

The final 3 Leather Stas from tonight's beach visit.
#SalishSea
#SeaStar
#LeatherStar
#Intertidal

Another 4 Leather Stas from the visit to the beach tonight.
#SalishSea
#SeaStar
#LeatherStar
#Intertidal

So bright and red and trippy patterned.

The Leather Star, Dermasterias imbricata.
Found in typical dramatic pose while contending with a retreating tide.

#SalishSea
#SeaStar
#LeatherStar
#Intertidal

7 more cuties seen 👇

Pacific Banana Slugs are known to eat slime mold, so these round brown Wolf's Milk Slime Mold could be a snack for this massive solid dark green specimen when they wake up from their nap.

A Pacific Banana Slug napping while guarding their clutch of #Round Wolf's Milk slime mold.
#PacificBananaSlug #Slug #Nature
#BlueSkyArtShow #SlimeMold

A colony of Aggregating Anemone, Anthopleura elegantissima, found growing prolifically on a boulder at Sunrise Beach Park, Washington State just before sunset. #Anemone #Nature #Surf
#Intertidal #SalishSea

Leather Star, Dermasterias imbricata found along the seashore at Sunrise Beach Park Washington State tonight just before sunset.
#SeaStar #Nature #Surf #Intertidal #SalishSea

For some reason Canadian hot sauces being big does make sense to me. I'll have to check and see if we have any imported Canadian pickles at my local store to show support. ☺️

Oh, that sounds delightful. Hot and sour soup on a rainy day just makes sense! That zing is so nice. I'll have to make a stop in next time I'm by the local H-mart and see what I've been missing out on. ☺️

A major grouping of birds nest fungi. Most are empty nesters having already distributed their "eggs"/spore satchels. But a few still have their eggs intact ready to spring away with a drop of rain or maybe an animal.

This bonnet fungi with a fuzzy dark red stem had a spider buddy right next to it to the right. If only I'd noticed in person then maybe I could have gotten the web both better in focus and lit different.

The cap of what I believe to be a woolly inocybe, Inocybe lanuginosa. The fuzzy nature of the cap was a fun texture to find. Sprouting from a bed of moss.

iNaturalist suggested Urnula padeniana but I found it in close proximity to ones that I'm somewhat confident are Pseudoplectania melaena which also can come in this form or are in this form at some stage of their development.

A couple observations from today's excursion into the woods. #FungiFriends #Fungi #Mycology

This stump had so much going on. Predominantly the trumpet lichen but I spot at least 1 more lichen species and 2 distinct moss species that I see quite often but don't have an ID.

Old stumps contain multitudes!
This shot is predominantly focused on the Trumpet Lichen, Cladonia fimbriata.
#Lichen #LikenLichen
#FungiFriends #Fungi
#Moss #MossMates

Oh nice, I didn't realize they had H-Mart in Canada too. My closest now is half an hour drive without traffic so I haven't been in awhile.

That's so cool that it sounds like more Canadian businesses are springing up or expanding to replace american. Glad you guys are standing up with your wallets!☺️

Thank you! ☺️

I believe this is a female Dark Eyed Junco of the Oregon variety. These seem to make up about 1/3 quantity-wise of the many birds visiting my back yard these days. Lots of Spotted Towhees and Black-capped chickadees these days too.

A bird staring directly through my camera lens into my very soul gives me the stink eye, wondering why in the world I would deign to invade their space. So Sorry!!

I believe this bird giving me the side eye is a female Dark Eyed Junco (Oregon). #BackYardBirdWatching #BirdSky #Nature

Another Steller's Jay visiting my back yard. This is the normal shot I'll get with them usually darting amongst the tree limbs so quickly they're a blur even to my own naked eye let alone a camera.

Peekaboo! I see you. This is a better than typical shot I get of these swift creatures. I usually see 4 at a time when they come to scope out my back yard seed spread. At least one of them loves to arrive mimicking Red Tailed Hawks to scare off the competition. Tricky Tricky

A Steller's Jay, Cyanocitta stelleri, scopes me out while visiting my back yard. I love their expressive blue eyebrows!

I've been trying to catch a decent picture of this Steller's Jay for awhile now.
It never fails they're only docile & posing when I don't have my camera with me & as soon as I go grab it they're gone. Gray weather & jerky movements don't make for easy snaps. #Birdsky #Nature #Photography

Super cool, hopefully I'll get a chance to try using them as a firelighter someday. That they appear to have growth rings when cracked open is fascinating.

Wow, super interesting! I saw the 2x items around the potato looking fungus but hadn't a clue. Fascinating looking critter! Too bad we don't have any in my area, but we do apparently have the fungi, that I'll need to keep an eye out for now. Thanks for sharing!

Thank you! I appreciate the kind words! 😊There's something about the forests up here. I love a good say drier Sierra Nevada forest too, but the infinite green up here with the moss, lichen, ferns and other understory is something special. Hopefully you'll be able to make another trip soon!

Of course! Glad you enjoyed it as much as I did. 😊

Thanks! I'll give him some extra scratches for ya. 😊

They're so shiny, especially in the summer sunlight.

Another slug munching on a much larger white russula that's just popping through the duff.

Sleepily Pacific Banana Slug munching on a russula.

I think this is the only one I have of them eating an Amanita. Most of the time it is a russula species I'll catch them munching on.

Munching on a russula with a spider mite along for the ride on top of mantle/head.

Another russula. Possibly a crab brittle but I didn't do any sort of ID other than visual, which was half eaten so...

Another russula, in button stage, being munched on by a Pacific Banana Slug that doesn't have any spots.

I sure do! I even have a few videos I'll post below

Thank you! They're often the highlight of my forest excursions. I especially love finding them munching on fungi.

I believe this was post coitus but I'm not a slug sex expert. I especially loved how one of them had so many spots and the other was only green really going for that Yin-yang look, albeit unintentionally. If only the green one also had a singular spot on their mantel.

Last one! While it's one of my favorite shots, the subjects aren't everyone's cup-o-tea.

A pair of post-coitus Pacific Banana Slugs. #BlueSkyArtShow #Two #PacificBananaSlug #YinYang

A pair of saddles, Helvella genus, unknown species, connected with a strand of spider silk. That's the only way they can lean back like that....

A pair of birdnest fungi that had only just recently had their protective cap eroded away revealing the "eggs".

A pair of Questionable Stropharia, Stropharia ambigua.

This was a fun exercise, going through the many pictures I've never posted. I know it's supposed to just be a single picture per post but I couldn't narrow the fungi down. Sorry!
#BlueSkyArtShow #Two #Fungi

This pair of red hued sea stars were found this past fall 2025 having just been exposed by the reversing tide and apparently not getting the message they should head out a little deeper. I did place these back in the water for anyone who was concerned. Not sure if it does anything, but I don't think there's any harm.

A pair of sea stars freshly exposed by the outgoing tide. #BlueSkyArtShow #Two
#StarFish #Beach #LeatherStar

A pair of Alpacas trudging toward hopefully some nice lush greenery in the foothills beyond. Taken near the Reserva Nacional Los Flamencos in the Atacama Desert of Chile.

A pair of alpaca's butts seen at Reserva Nacional Los Flamencos in the Atacama Desert of Chile. #BlueSkyArtShow #Two #Desert

Stunning! I've been seeing a lot more corals recently too, but haven't been lucky to find any of these yet. Nice find!