These gorgeous mushrooms grow on the ground under spruce trees and that is exactly where we found them.

Here is what the National Audubon Society Guide says about them:

This mushroom is called the Fly Agaric because it has been used, mixed in with milk, to stupefy houseflies. The Fly Agarics of North America cause delirium, raving, and profuse sweating. Unlike its Siberian relative, this induces no visions.

Scenes around Thompson Park:

Today’s group:

Some botany:

Some birds:

Species list: mallard, red-tailed hawk, Cooper’s hawk, belted kingfisher, downy woodpecker, blue jay, American crow, gray catbird, black-capped chickadee, American robin, ruby-crowned kinglet, house sparrow, northern cardinal, house finch, American goldfinch, white-throated sparrow, field sparrow, song sparrow.  (18 species)

NATURE POETRY

A shaded lamp and a waving blind,
And the beat of a clock from a distant floor:
On this scene enter—winged, horned, and spined—
A longlegs, a moth, and a dumbledore.                           – Thomas Hardy (1840–1948) 

Miles Hearn