August Nature Notes

Aug 20, 2014

By Steve Blight

It’s August, and I thought I would devote this column to sharing a few nature experiences that I have from this summer that I think (and hope) readers may find interesting.

First is the Black Horse Fly. In late July I spotted a huge, all-black fly just above the door at our house. It was so big that I did a serious double take when I saw it, and approached it quite cautiously. This fly was about 1 inch wide, maybe ¾ inch wide, and completely black from tip to tail, as it were (see picture). Then I noticed that it had the same kind of stinger-like mouthparts as all the other deer and horseflies that have been biting me all summer. It turns out that it was a Black Horse Fly, Tabinus atratus, one of North America’s biggest horse flies. Known as B-52s in parts of the U.S., it is known to pack an extremely painful bite. I can hardly imagine what it would feel like to be bitten by one of these bad boys (actually girls, as it is only the female horseflies that bite). And I should add that I have zero interest in finding out!

This year in many parts of our area there are sugar maple seedlings everywhere. Last summer, local trees of many species, including sugar maples, produced a bumper crop of seeds. Perhaps it was the long cold winter with abundant snow, or just the right weather this spring, but with the warmer days in May, small sugar maple seedlings began to appear everywhere – lawns, gardens, forests, driveways, sand piles, pathways, you name it. A friend and neighbour who has been a forester for some 30 years told me that he has never seen anything like it. Hopefully enough will survive to replenish the forests with the next generation of sugar maples. On a related subject, I wonder if the profusion of seeds last fall anything to do with the abundance of mice in homes and cottages that some people are reporting this year. Maybe bumper crops of maple seeds produce bumper crops of mice!

Last summer I edged into the risky world of collecting wild mushrooms to eat. I had been considering it for several years, and last year I took the plunge. After my first success with chanterelles I was hooked. I have been slowly and carefully adding new mushrooms to the menu here at Chez Blight, with the most recent addition being lobster mushrooms (see picture). Lobster mushrooms are curious as they are actually the result of a mold-like fungus that has parasitized one of two other types of large, inedible normally-shaped gill mushrooms. There's really no mistaking the lobster: the fungus creates a beautiful, bright orange covering over the host mushroom, the surface of which is rather hard and dotted with tiny bumps. Eventually, the fungus even begins to transform the shape of the host mushroom, twisting it into odd contortions. What I really like about lobster mushrooms is how big they are – it doesn’t take many to provide enough for a meal. So I trimmed them up – they need a lot of trimming – sautéed them slowly with garlic and herbs, and tried a mouthful. Some people may find their mild seafood-like aroma and flavour pleasant. Alas, I did not, and will not be harvesting lobster mushrooms again!

As always, please be 100% certain about the identity of any mushroom before eating it – a mistake can be very uncomfortable or at worst, deadly. Even with one that is “known” to be edible, it’s always wise to start with a very small amount if it’s your first experience with this mushroom, avoid any alcohol consumption during the “test” day, and wait for a couple of days to make sure that you don’t have an adverse reaction.

Finally a note about chipmunks. A couple of years ago, a number of people observed that they were seeing far fewer chipmunks than usual. Around our house, chipmunks had effectively disappeared. At the time, I read in several places that there may have been a virus or some other malady affecting local chipmunks. I still don’t know if there really was a crash in chipmunk populations or if so what its cause was. But if the number of chipmunks around our house this year reflects what is happening more broadly, I’d say they have bounced back very nicely. By far the happiest member of our household at this news is our dog, who spends many blissful hours chasing (but never catching) these cheeky little ground squirrels.

OBSERVATIONS: Two weeks ago we published a photo of some giant plants that Mike from the Ardoch / Plevna area had observed growing on Smith Road. At the time, based on prickles on the underside of the leaves we thought they were prickly lettuce (Lactuca serriola). However, the plants have since put out white flowers, which indicates they are tall blue lettuce (Lactuca biennis). The tallest of the plants have topped out at 12 feet!