Tryon Creek Naturalist Notes

Dyer's Polypore

I found this polypore nestled between a Douglas fir and an old rotten stump along the paver trail to the nature center.  What a spectacular find!  My curiosity got the best of me and I had to reach out and touch it.  Once I noticed the orange coloring on my hands, the origin of this common name dawned on me.  “It’s the one in the Arora’s book that dyed the dog yellow…”

Time to get your mushroom field guides out folks.  Mushroom season is upon us! 

Ranger Christal

Linda asked me to accompany her in a mid-afternoon insect hunt.  As we rolled logs along the center trail, we discovered this large egg shell just across the trail from the Great Horned Owl nest.  Perhaps the changes in the fall forest exposed a hidden treasure from last spring!  It looks to be the size of  a Great Horned Owl egg replica that we have at the nature center… 

Who knows…someone could’ve been making egg salad sandwiches on the nearby bench!  Ahh, the investigative work of an urban naturalist. 

Christal Florin – Interpretive Ranger OPRD