Inkies in the rain

My Chicago buddies and I have a positive genius for scheduling these walks when it’s going to rain. In fact, twice it has started to rain while we were driving to the woods, so we had to stop at a gas station and buy ponchos.
This is by way of introduction to my first mushroom video on this blog. Mushroom photography is great, but there are times when a still photo just can’t capture the magnificence of the spectacle.
Here are some inky cap mushrooms from my first trip to this Michigan forest. Growing in the rain is ideal for them, because they have plenty of available water to put into the chemical reaction that dissolves their caps – and also to grow, pushing up leaves in clusters. You can see them here in all stages of growth and deliquescence.
inkies in the rain