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Dusty McDusterson (He/Him) 🍄 @dustymcdusterson.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Trying some new things including long form video. Just a rough compilation of 8 videos from yesterday's trip into the forest where I captured all of the above pictures. Youtube is the only other place I post my content. #Video #ForestBathing #Nature #Mushrooms #PNW #Fungi #SlimeMold

youtu.be

Exploring a Washington State forest in search of fungi for photographing & eating

YouTube video by Dusty McDusterson

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Dusty McDusterson (He/Him) 🍄 @dustymcdusterson.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

A few images from yesterday's time spent in a local forest here in Washington State. I made a rough cut long-form video of the time in the forest including the behind the scenes for most of these pictures. I plan to print the first 3 pictures. #Mushroom #Fungi #MacroPhotography #Nature

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Dusty McDusterson (He/Him) 🍄 @dustymcdusterson.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Thanks! I'm using a slightly older DSLR, a Canon EOS 70D and focus stacking the pictures using Helicon focus.

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Dusty McDusterson (He/Him) 🍄 @dustymcdusterson.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

A few odds and ends from this mornings foray into the forest. Had some fun "painting with light in the last 2 pictures as well as unintentional painting with the first. #Moss #Mushrooms #Fungi More pictures to follow...possibly tomorrow.

A fun 4 second exposure where I think I accidentally triggered the shot as I was packing up.

A big leaf maple tree that's developed a hole in its trunk nearly large enough for a very small human to crawl through. The tree looks healthy for having a large hole in it. I love how much moss is covers these majestic trees!

This mushroom held my attention for at least half an hour as I played around with different angles and exposures between a few seconds to 30 seconds while painting with the lights. This was a 2.5 second exposure.

Another of the same fungi from image 3 but this time with less light "painting" for a 8 second exposure at f/36.

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Dusty McDusterson (He/Him) 🍄 @dustymcdusterson.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Cheers! I've been posting a bit less with this drought there hasn't been too much to snap. But hopefully I'll be posting more with this recent rain!

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Dusty McDusterson (He/Him) 🍄 @dustymcdusterson.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Thanks! I was having problems with my memory card and missed out on a better angle but glad these came out nicely. ☺️

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Dusty McDusterson (He/Him) 🍄 @dustymcdusterson.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

The final picture I'll post from yesterday's journey into a local forest on the Gig Harbor peninsula in Washington State. #Fungi #Macro #Moss

A grouping of mycena sticks out of the duff in the foreground with another unidentified mushroom growing from a stick just behind them.

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Dusty McDusterson (He/Him) 🍄 @dustymcdusterson.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Check out the before and after uncovering a chanterelle. Image with the chanterelle to the right covered in duff was as found. #GIF #Animatiom #Chanterelle #Fungi

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Dusty McDusterson (He/Him) 🍄 @dustymcdusterson.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Chanterelles are popping!!! These tasty creatures were calling my name! Glad we have finally been getting some decent rainfall even if it isn't likely a trend with the insanely strong El Niño that's expected to continue to bring us drier conditions this fall. #EdibleFungi #Mushrooms #Macro

A chanterelle poking through the duff. The stipe barely extended below the lowest portion visible here.

A closer look at a chanterelle couple poking through the forest floor.

The specimen to the right was fully covered in the forest litter when I arrived. An animation including this picture as the after and another as the before can be seen below. Check out their friend in the middle growing from a stick.

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Dusty McDusterson (He/Him) 🍄 @dustymcdusterson.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Yay for rain!!! #SeptemberShowersBringFallMushies Cone mushrooms are among my favorites & Strobilurus trullisatus rarely disappoints! Typically spotted by the grouping of white capped mushrooms poking through the duff. Which make finding them like this so much fun! #Fungi #Nature #Moss #Macro

A Douglas fir pinecone covered in Strobilurus trullisatus mushrooms growing from it. These mushrooms have white caps and tan stems that gradually turn white as they approach the cap. The fir cone is also covered in moss that is nice and bright green due to the recent rains. A focus stack composite of 27 pictures taken with 2x LED lights.

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Dusty McDusterson (He/Him) 🍄 @dustymcdusterson.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I've wondered that too, same with Madrone tree bark. I think at least part of the reason is it allows small chunks of moss to slough off with the segmented "paper" and prevents moss from fully covering the trunk and possibly inducing rot or infection by fungi. I bet there's more to it though.

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Dusty McDusterson (He/Him) 🍄 @dustymcdusterson.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

A video of the same little froggy heading toward one of the adjacent heirloom tomato plants.

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Dusty McDusterson (He/Him) 🍄 @dustymcdusterson.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

It's always fun spotting Pacific Chorus frogs, Pseudacris regilla. We found this one hanging out on the Serrano pepper plant. One of several that inhabit our tomato and pepper dominant garden. #Treefrog #Frog #Pepper

A bright green Pacific Chorus frog rests on the leaf of a Serrano pepper plant.

A closer shot of the same frog peering out from atop a Serrano pepper plant.

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Dusty McDusterson (He/Him) 🍄 @dustymcdusterson.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

A few shots of a few of the groupings of seemingly the same species of fungi found growing on both cones and decomposing conifer twigs. #ALTText #Mushroom #Cone

The fully emerged cone from the animation above.

One of the clusters of mushrooms that turned out to be emerging from a conifer twig vs a cone. Two fruiting bodies are emerging from this end of the stick with a yellow fibrous base of a stem that quickly transitions to a white, not smooth, stem with gills and a cap that looks like it has dander sprinkled on it but are I assume are linked to the fuzz that appears to be everywhere other than the gills.

The final grouping with the first cone to the bottom left, the stick with a cluster of mushrooms (the other end of the stick had another 2 mushrooms that were no bigger than a pencil lead. Another cone that was already on top of the duff was moved closer to the right with a few other loose cones brought in to act as a backdrop. Single shot, 1.3 sec exposure f/36 with 2x LED lights to supplement the waning daylight.

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Dusty McDusterson (He/Him) 🍄 @dustymcdusterson.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Check out this mushroom covered pinecone dramatically emerge from the forest floor in this stop-motion animation. #Fungi #Moss #Animation #Mushroom #TinyMushrooms #Nature

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Dusty McDusterson (He/Him) 🍄 @dustymcdusterson.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Another mushroom sprouting among the mosses that this time was attached to what appeared to be a tiny bit of a conifer twig.

A singular mushroom seemingly towers over the mossy covered forest floor and yet would barely have been visible unless you were already on your hands and knees looking around for tiny mushrooms as I typically find myself doing. This one was fun as it had a pale cap and top of their stem that transitioned quickly to yellow shortly below the cap. 1 picture, 0.6 sec exposure time with f/29 and 2 LED lights.

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Dusty McDusterson (He/Him) 🍄 @dustymcdusterson.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

I believe these are Strobilurus trullisatus growing on a Douglas fir cone. #Fungi #Cone #Moss #TinyMushrooms The trail was littered with groupings of these tiny little mushrooms usually with the cone fully buried with only a cluster of tiny white mushrooms poking through the moss.

A grouping of 7 fruting bodies with a tan color cap that appears to darken toward the tip. They are all seen emerging from a single cone and appear in varying stages of growth with a few newly emerging ones and a few older ones with their caps folding indicating they are drying out. A single shot with longer exposure time of 1/13 sec and f/11. The closest mushroom is a little more out of focus that I was hoping but I didn't have my tripod with me and this was the best I could get with what I was working with at the angle I wanted.

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Dusty McDusterson (He/Him) 🍄 @dustymcdusterson.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

This likely Wood-woolly foot mushroom's desiccation aptly represents the thirst our forests in the PNW still feel. The recent rainfall has been much appreciated but nowhere near what we need. #Mushroom #Moss #SwordFern #Fungi Not many other fungi are popping recently but I'll post a few.

A likely Wood Woolly-Foot, Collybiopsis peronata, mushroom with the edges of the cap showing signs of drying out. The stem of the mushroom is a creamy white color with "whooly" texture especially visible on the lower right side of the stem. The cap is a tan coloration and is dramatically lit to show off the folds of the mushroom as they increase as it drys out. We had a few rounds of rainfall over the past few weeks but the ground is still super thirsty. Still lots of these cute, even if apparently invasive, mushrooms popping up along the trail. Along with gilled mushrooms living on Douglas fir cones, Strobilurus trullisatus these dominated the forest floor with not many other mushrooms spotted as of late. This picture was a long-ish exposure of 1 second with a f/29 so the entire mushroom and most of the fern are both in focus in the single shot. I used one LED light for dramatic lighting.

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Dusty McDusterson (He/Him) 🍄 @dustymcdusterson.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Me too, I haven't seen her in a few days. Hopefully still catching bugs

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Dusty McDusterson (He/Him) 🍄 @dustymcdusterson.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

A little less dramatic but this crab spider seemingly missing half their legs surprised me last week when reaching for a blackberry.

A cream colored with brown accents crab spider with the majority of their leg parts on their left side no longer present hangs out on a ripe cutleaf blackberry I almost plucked before fortunately spotting the resident.

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Dusty McDusterson (He/Him) 🍄 @dustymcdusterson.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Another shot of the slime mold found just a short distance to the left of the frog. #SlimeMold

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Dusty McDusterson (He/Him) 🍄 @dustymcdusterson.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Found within arms reach of the just posted bolete mushroom was this Northern red-legged frog (Rana aurora) on the same log as a large grouping of what I believe to be Common Coral Slime (Ceratiomyxa fruticulosa). #Herp #Frog #SlimeMold #Moss #MacroPhotography #Nature #Fungi

A large group of coral slime mold growing from a moss covered log. Their stark white fingers stand out among the dominant dark brown and green forest. This grouping was just 1.5ft to the left of the frog in the other picture here growing on the same log.

A Northern red-legged frog perched atop a log keeping careful watch over a human that suddenly emerged from the forest and started obsessing over a large bolete mushroom found nearby. I imagine them going..."Did he see me? I hope not, there's a mushroom and some slime mold nearby that will hopefully keep his attention from me. Just don't blink...Be the moss..."
A bulbous form of the red belted conch is seen below the frog who stayed there the entire time I was taking pictures of it and the nearby bolete mushroom and coral slime mold.
This picture is a focus stacked composite of 27 pictures with supplemental lighting...as you can see reflected in the frog's eyes.

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Dusty McDusterson (He/Him) 🍄 @dustymcdusterson.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

A video of the log these newly emerged Chicken of the Woods fruiting bodies were found on.

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Dusty McDusterson (He/Him) 🍄 @dustymcdusterson.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

A few more angles of the newly emerging Chicken of the Woods mushroom. Even the largest of these is only 5-10% of their final expected size. Look at that #Guttation too! So happy to have finally received some decent rainfall. Hopefully I'll be snapping more pictures of fungi soon!

Another shot of the 2x fruiting bodies seen in the post above at a slightly different angle and pulled back a bit. This picture is a composite of 35 individual pictures focus stacked.

A broader overview of the log the chicken of the woods were emerging from. The 2x fruiting bodies seen in the post above and the other image here are seen here on the bottom right. This picture is a composite of 28 individual pictures focus stacked.

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Dusty McDusterson (He/Him) 🍄 @dustymcdusterson.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

This #CandyCorn looking #Mushroom is Chicken of the Woods, coincidentally named after a creature known to be a bit of a corn connoisseur. I was happy to find these new growths have returned a 3rd year in a row, if not a bit delayed due to drought. See below for more pics/video. #Fungi #Lichen🍄📷

A freshly emerged mushroom with yellow tip that transitions to a bright orange with coloration reminiscent of candy corn sans the white tip. Lime green lichen surround the emergence site for these fruiting bodies with several specimens apparently having been incorporated into the mushroom as it emerged. This picture is a composite of 29 individual pictures focus stacked.

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Reposted by Dusty McDusterson (He/Him) 🍄

Mia Sosa (she/her) 🏳️‍🌈🇲🇽🇨🇦🇺🇸 @mia-sosa.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Koko Loko bloomed this week after being transplanted into a container. 🙌🏼 #Roses #Bloomscrolling

A four panel of a Koko Loko rose bloom as it blossomed and changed colors… from peachy pinks to cafecito brown

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Dusty McDusterson (He/Him) 🍄 @dustymcdusterson.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Peek-a-boo! These Pacific Chorus frogs, Pseudacris regilla, have been loving posting up in the Marigold flowers growing in our hanging baskets. A few shots from the past week... #Frog #Nature #BloomScrolling Grateful for our neighbors frog pond, the froglet invasion this summer was epic!

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Dusty McDusterson (He/Him) 🍄 @dustymcdusterson.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

A horrifically shot video of the wasp and their quarry. I still had work gloves on, the angle was terrible with the sun and the wasp wasn't a fan of me being so close to it so this was the best I could do.

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Dusty McDusterson (He/Him) 🍄 @dustymcdusterson.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

While doing my summertime meditative practice of digging out a stump I noticed a wasps scoping out the hole. I chilled for a few and was fascinated to see one of them capture one of the termites that had taken up residence and flew up toward a nearby tree where the feasting commenced! #Wasp #Hunter

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Dusty McDusterson (He/Him) 🍄 @dustymcdusterson.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

Same! It's been so dry this summer. We got a couple flushes with a few rain events but finding the few that were able to fruit has been difficult. Hoping we get more rain even in spite of El Nino but I'm already preparing myself for an abysmal fall.

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Dusty McDusterson (He/Him) 🍄 @dustymcdusterson.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

We've been hearing this young Red Tailed Hawk seemingly succeeding at establishing their territory in our neighborhood over the past week. The local ravens & crows have put up a valiant effort attempting to chase them off but I think our sky might be under new management now. #RedTailedHawk #Bird

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Dusty McDusterson (He/Him) 🍄 @dustymcdusterson.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

I finally got around to harvesting and prepping the first round of #Salal berries from the bushes I've been tending in my yard. My go to has been a lemon vanilla salal muffin but this year I incorporated a little matcha powder. The lemon zest will probably overpower it but I love the color. #Nature

The Salal berry bunches after harvest. I left plenty for the birds. The bushes I've been feeding compost and routinely watering are absurd compared to the ones I see in the "wild" that are usually heavily browsed by humans harvesting for floral arrangements.

The end result was just over 4 cups of berries, just shy of a liter. Not bad for the first harvest. About 10% of the berries on my main cluster of bushes, although most of what is left is still green which means I'll have several more rounds to go through the fall! I used half of this for the muffins this morning and have the rest in the chest freezer to test how well they freeze.

Immediately after incorporating the berries into the muffin batter.

All set in the silicon muffin pans. They're gonna be ugly little buggers, but if the batter is any indication they should be delicious.

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Dusty McDusterson (He/Him) 🍄 @dustymcdusterson.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

I found this bottle taken over by moss abandoned in the woods this winter and thought it would fit with the theme of #Glass for this weekend's #BlueskyArtShow #Photography #Moss I backlit it with one of my lights to give it an ethereal look.

This is one where I wish I had my DSLR with me at the time. I would have tried to get a little more of the mossy bed in focus but still a fun shot looking into the mossy interior of the bottle. Backlit with a small LED light.

The side view of a bottle likely from the 50s or 60s with moss growing inside of it on a bed of moss. Someone may have moved it to this location, found quite a ways off trail.

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Dusty McDusterson (He/Him) 🍄 @dustymcdusterson.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

I took 2x top-down shots during my visit. I found I liked it when the ground remained out of focus and ended up not using all of the pictures. The lighting was a bit frustrating as it was both windy and partly cloudy, so conditions changed rapidly as you can see in these different shots.

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Dusty McDusterson (He/Him) 🍄 @dustymcdusterson.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

I returned to this bouquet of Ghost Pipe yesterday and was impressed with their progress...also grateful no one has picked them in the 19 days between visits. (Monotropa uniflora) #BloomScrolling #GhostPipe #Flowers #Myco-heterotroph #FungiParasite #Fungi

Most of the ghost pipe flowers are now fully erect facing up. Only the one straggler on the right is still facing away perpendicular to the ground. The stems are still a beautiful pinkish white with increased bruising seen along the small leaflets that line the stems. The flowers have seen their fair share of pollinators based on the bruising.

This was the closest I could get with my primary lens.

A top down view of the same bouquet of Ghost Pipe flower/plants.

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Dusty McDusterson (He/Him) 🍄 @dustymcdusterson.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

While feeding the birds this morning I got a fright when I noticed several piles of vomit in front of where Winston was resting. I've never been so happy to see slime mold! They definitely lived up to their name, dog vomit slime mold, looking like piles of bile. (Fuligo septica) #SlimeMold #Dog

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Dusty McDusterson (He/Him) 🍄 @dustymcdusterson.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

An animation of the above images highlighting the differences in lighting as well as the movement of the insects and spider. #Animation #GIF

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Dusty McDusterson (He/Him) 🍄 @dustymcdusterson.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

There is a whole lot going on in this little scene in addition to the #ForbiddenCandyFloss These are both focus stacked images w/ series taken on the same tripod setup but with slight adjustment to the lighting. An animation below highlights the differences. #SlimeMold #Spider #Insect #Fungi

A closer view of the amanita being invaded by another fungi reveals a tiny world. A tiny fly saunters along the left side of the fluffy covered fungi while an ant crawls upside down along the edges of the cap, using their forelimbs to muss with their head. A spider is just making their way on scene in the bottom center just below what appear to be 2x white slime mold specimens.

This focus stack series of pictures was taken within a minute of the previous picture with only a slight adjustment made to the lighting by moving the 2nd light to the right for a more dramatic look. Note that the ant in image 1 is now nowhere to be found. The spider located toward the bottom has advanced slightly toward the apparent slime mold. The fly is now standing on what looks to be a piece of pine fluff just a tiny distance away from where it was seen in the previous image. A tiny springtail has appeared out of nowhere just to the left of the fly.

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Dusty McDusterson (He/Him) 🍄 @dustymcdusterson.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

With the decent amount of rain we received Thursday I had hoped for some interesting finds this weekend & this did not disappoint. #Nature #FungiFriends This fluffy white fungus stood out as a bright beacon in the duff as it invaded an old amanita mushroom. #Fungi Closer shots w/ #Insects & more ⬇️

An old amanita mushroom can't escape their fate as they become enveloped in the mechanicians of another fungi that is taking advantage of the mushroom's structure and recent rainfall. The fluffy white nature of this invading fungi reminiscent of a sort of forbidden candy floss. The mushroom had a brown coloration with cream colored universal veil remnants flecking their cap. The other fungi advancing not only covers 70% of the mushroom but also a good 1-2 inches (2.5-5cm) of the surrounding forest floor.

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Dusty McDusterson (He/Him) 🍄 @dustymcdusterson.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

That article caught my eye too! Hope they have some good research that will be made public as part of the project. I'd love to try something like this someday. I bought a few panels last year I still need to set up in my yard and this article gave me a little inspiration.

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Dusty McDusterson (He/Him) 🍄 @dustymcdusterson.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

It kept going and going and going! I'm loving it!

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Dusty McDusterson (He/Him) 🍄 @dustymcdusterson.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

A brief shaky video twirling the thimbleberry, Rubus parviflorus, with the shedded insect exoskeleton.

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Dusty McDusterson (He/Him) 🍄 @dustymcdusterson.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

I was stoked to try my first #Thimbleberry of the year, but was surprised this insect refused to move, even when super close. It took me longer than I'd care to admit before I finally realized it was a shedded insect exoskeleton. I think this is the #Exuvia of a #Leafhopper. #Berry #Insect #AltText

A cluster of thumbleberries, (Rubus parviflorus) the center dark red one is fully ripe while the 2x lighter red ones still need some time to mature. Another 2 heads look to have failed to have turned to fruit. The ripe berry had an translucent insect exoskeleton shed, exuvia, attached where the insect who shed it apparently assumed would be a good place to molt. The berry was still tasty after carefully removing the exuvia.

A closer view of the translucent insect shed with the head facing down and to the right and the thorax to the upper left. The legs are all visible. All resting on a bright red thimbleberry.

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Dusty McDusterson (He/Him) 🍄 @dustymcdusterson.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

Taken a few days prior the left side had lots of Guttation. It looks like they may have slurped all of it up.

The same fungi a day earlier with guttation seen being excreted from the entire surface including the left side where the slugs were found today.

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Dusty McDusterson (He/Him) 🍄 @dustymcdusterson.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

Love is in the air.... 🎶 This pair of slugs enjoying the guttation excreted from this heart shaped crust fungi. #Fungi #Guttation #Slugs #Heart

A white crust fungi has lots grown into what resembles a ❤️ the fungi is excreting a fair amount of guttation, especially on the right side. A pair of tiny slugs are hanging out on the left side of the heart, are they the reason there is exposed wood nearby?

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