Last Fall & Mushrooms

Last Fall Earl Plato

When my birthday comes around in late October I again realize that nothing creeps up silently on anything in the woods these Fall days. The carpet of fallen leaves is daily becoming more crisp and dry. It provides an early warning sign for wildlife. Nature writer Ed Teale made it clear for me. “No fox can stalk its prey noiselessly now. Even a chipmunk broadcasts its every move as it scrambles over the leaf covered woodland floor. ... so loud is our own progress that we seem as giants ‘scuffing’ through the leaves. The uproar we produce drowns out our voices. We have to stand still when we want to hear each other speak.” Get the picture? Don’t get me wrong. I love Fall.
Game birds, pheasants, grouse et al, have a special stake in the dryness
of leaf cover in the autumn woods. Remember when the leaves are wet from rain they are soggy and silent underfoot. That’s when pheasants and grouse are more likely to be taken unawares. For us non-hunters it’s a good time during rainy weather to get a glimpse of those usually hidden birds and forest animals in Niagara.
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Ross Bearss, noted tree and plant man of Ridgeway, called a few years ago. “Earl, there’s some strange looking mushrooms down in the pine woods. They have reddish -orange caps.” We walked Ross’s trails and there nestled in among Scotch pines was a large growth of these attractive mushrooms. We counted about twenty in a circle of ten feet or so. I knew what they were, Fly agaric. Their scientific name is Amanita muscaria. Amanita? That’s right. When you see that name you know that you have a deadly poisonous mushroom even if you ingest a small part. The drawing I made has a skull and crossbones for obvious reasons.
Most fungi (mushrooms and toadstools) are harmless if eaten. To those of us who like steak and mushrooms will testify that those field white capped mushrooms with the pink gills are delicious. Boletes and chanterelles are especially pleasing to mushroom connoisseurs. Just remember that eating wild mushrooms is not to be taken lightly.