{"id":16913,"date":"2026-06-19T19:11:38","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T00:11:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/?p=16913"},"modified":"2026-06-19T19:11:42","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T00:11:42","slug":"neighborhood-nature-pt-28","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/2026\/06\/19\/neighborhood-nature-pt-28\/","title":{"rendered":"Neighborhood Nature (Pt. 28)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hello again, and welcome to another edition of Neighborhood Nature. Today is National Martini Day<\/a>, and while I’m not saying that a dirty vodka martini would enhance your enjoyment of this post, I’m also not not<\/em> saying that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last Monday’s torrential rains (>5″ in a short period), when added to the heavy downpours of May and early June, have resulted in what I would call a very happy landscape full of happy organisms, some of which we don’t see on a regular basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Photo:
“Are you looking at me?!”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Alert Gazette readers will recall this post<\/a> from a few weeks ago wherein I documented an observation of mushrooms called magpie inkcaps. They sprang forth after a heavy rain, and dissolved and disappeared a day or two later. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this week, I ran across \u2014 and I mean that literally \u2014 another larger gathering of small mushrooms. I was out for an early morning jog on the cart path along the #9 fairway of the Ram Rock golf course<\/a> (for you local readers) when I spotted several “communities” of tiny, parasol-shaped mushrooms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Photos:
A plethora of Parasola plicatilis<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

These are pleated inkcap<\/a> mushrooms (Parasola plicatilis<\/em>); they may also be referred to as Japanese parasols. Their caps average about 1 1\/2″ in width, and they stand less than 3″ tall. Each of the groups I spotted were in the shade of large trees; they quickly succumb to direct sunlight. It’s not unusual to see them spring up after a rain, although I’ve rarely seen them in such large quantities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Photo:<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By the way, while these mushrooms aren’t poisonous, they are considered inedible, and might cause some gastric distress if eaten. You’ve been warned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Entering a Huge Rabbit Hole<\/strong> Humans and\nfungi have one key characteristic in common \u2014 well, perhaps more than one, but\nlets not get into personality traits \u2014 we\nand they are heterotrophs<\/a><\/em>, meaning that we\nand they have to get our food from our\nenvironment. (Non-heterotrophs are called autotrophs<\/em>; they produce\ntheir own nutrients. Plants and algae are autotrophs, using photosynthesis to\nproduce the organic molecules that sustain\nlife.)<\/p>

One way that scientists classify\nmushrooms is according to the way the fungi which produces them get nutrition.\n(Did you catch that little tidbit? Mushrooms are\nnot, in and of themselves, fungi; they are the fruited bodies<\/em> produced\nby fungi, aka the spore-producing, reproductive structures of fungi. I was today\nyears old when I learned that.) Pleated\ninkcaps are saprotropic<\/a><\/em>, meaning that\nthey feed on dead organic matter…in this case,\ndecomposing grass clippings and other plant detritus.<\/p>

The other types of mushrooms in this system are mycorrhizal<\/a><\/em> (they have\nsymbiotic, mutually beneficial relationships with the organisms that feed them),\nparasitic<\/a><\/em> (should be self-explanatory; they extract nutrients\nfrom the host organism’s living\ntissue, damaging and even killing it [insert your own anecdote about the\nbrother-in-law living in his parents’ basement]), and endophytic<\/a><\/em> (they actually live inside the\nhost’s tissue and cells, but do not cause damage or disease; this category is\nworthy of much more discussion \u2014 it’s not\nwell-understood and has some fascinating implications. Also, endophytic fungi don’t\nactually produce mushrooms, at least as far as anyone knows.).<\/p>If you’re wondering why you should care about any of this, the main\ntakeaway is that if you encounter\nsaprotropic mushrooms in your garden or flowerbeds, leave them alone as they\nrecycle nutrients and are therefore beneficial. <\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Let’s move along to more animated organisms, shall we? I’ve written at length about the rock squirrels that inhabit the banks of the creek behind our house (and sometimes the space under our back yard deck) so I’m not going to rehash any of their physical and behavioral characteristics. But I did have a chance to observe something new, and there’s a hint in the image at the top of this post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I knew that they are omnivores; they eat primarily leaves, stems, seeds, and nuts but they will also eat small invertebrates (e.g. grasshoppers and beetles) and vertebrates (e.g. young birds; they will sometimes even scavenge deceased animals). I’ve never had the chance to observe one doing anything in our yard besides digging up pecans. But a couple of days ago, I looked out the living room sliding glass door in time to see this one chowing down on our St. Augustine lawn. I was able to capture the following video.<\/p>\n\n\n\n