What in the Woods Is That?

Play our biweekly guessing game!

Whatever draws us into the forest—be it birdwatching or logging, hiking or hunting—all of us are unified by the sense of wonder we feel in the outdoors. The forests, fields, and streams of our region are full of mystery, and if you stop and look closely, you’ll see all sorts of oddities.

Below find a picture of one such woodlands curio. Guess what it is and you’ll be eligible to win a Northern Woodlands woodpecker magnet designed by artist Liz Wahid. A prize winner will be drawn at random from all the correct entries. The correct answer, and the winner’s name, will appear when the next column is posted and in our newsletter (sign up here!).

Mushroom Madness

Cheryl Cullion came across this unusual mushroom in Intervale, New Hampshire. We’re wondering, what caused it to grow like this?

Answer

We checked in with a forester and asked for a remote analysis of how this mushroom developed. She tells us that, based on the photographic evidence, “It’s a perennial conk, and when it emerged it faced its spore-producing side downward (the old gray part); then, the tree fell down and subsequent years’ conks grew with their spore sides down, at 90 degrees to the original. If you could count the annual growths on the younger ones, you would know how many years ago the tree fell down.”

This week’s contest winner was Cheryl Coon