Checking field sites

 I didn't have a lot of faith that they'd be accessible, given the flooding of the lake, but my newest colleague and I made plans to run out today (the only non raining day of the week) to check out four field sites: one on the lake, one on a horseback trail near a campsite, one at a reservoir/fishing lake north of town, and finally, an old golf course that's being allowed to revegetate (for now at least) and serve as an "eco park"

Surprisingly, none of the sites were under water. The site at the lake had the most flooding - we could only get half of the way in, but the things I would need to sample from were still accessible. We also looked at the vegetation and saw a bunch of Sabatia campestris, including the less-common white-flowered variant:

 

We also saw a couple armadillos near the trail - I thought maybe the flooding (it was near where the worst flooding was) had flushed them out of their usual haunts and they were having to hang out where it was still dry. At first I just saw the movement and thought it was a muskrat or something but then I got a look at the scaly tail as it went into the grass. 

From there, we drove over to the campsite/trail. Relatively little evidence of flooding there, but again, we didn't go in very far because the trail slopes sharply down and it had eroded/gotten very muddy from people riding horses. It looked slick and there was also manure, and I didn't really want to slip and wind up in the horse manure. 

But there were LOTS of fungi

First, a cup fungus, I think it's Sarcoschypha coccinea, what I think I originally learned as Peziza back in Illinois. It is very red. Common name is scarlet cup fungus (This is an ascomycota, not a basidiomycota, so it's slightly different from typical mushrooms - mainly in how the spores are borne)

 There was also a coral fungus. I'm not sure of the species and the light wasn't ideal; it might be yellow coral fungus or crown-tipped coral fungus

 This one was TINY - like less than 2" tall.

And then an orange mushroom. I'm not sure of the genus or species; an online friend suggested Russula and that seems like a reasonable guess:

 It's nice to see these; normally it's so dry that all you see are the typical shelf fungi feeding on trees. 

 

There were also lots of downed branches and a post oak that had split (I don't think it was struck by lightning, though, didn't see evidence of a burn scar

 

 There was less interesting stuff at the reservoir/fishing spot, and I was getting tired, so no photos. But again, the water was up but not so much it would prevent me being able to sample.

And after walking around the old golf course, I decided to cross that one off the list - less accessible and also seemed like it had had more disturbance in the past. It might be interesting to sample at some point but I have limited set-ups/time to do these extractions, so the first three sites will suffice.