I've noticed far more of this particular mushroom recently than I remember seeing in previous years. It is called Amanita muscaria, also known as "Fly Agaric." If it looks even vaguely familiar, that's because this species is common enough to be referred to as a "toadstool." In the midwest, their caps might be either yellow or orange as seen here, but in the western U.S. and in Europe, the cap is bright red. The red ones are the mushrooms typically depicted in folklore or fantasy artwork with fairies and gnomes and such. Ritter Farm Park, Dakota County, MN 10/14/23
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This is one of the more unusual fungi I've ever come across and I had no idea what it was at the time. All I knew is that it was oozing some kind of substance that resembled molasses. I didn't even know where to start with finding an ID on this so I shared to a facebook group called "Minnesota Naturalists" and got an ID rather quickly as Hydnellum caeruleum. There are a bunch of Hydnellum species and they are generally referred to as "tooth mushrooms" due to tiny tooth-like structures on the underside of the cap. I learned that the oozing substance has nothing to do with this particular species, and in fact a whole lot of mushrooms do this. It is something called "guttation" which is where the byproducts of a mushroom's metabolism are expelled out of the fruiting body. One user in that group said that they'd "been mushroom foraging for a decade and have never found one" which makes me think they're not very common. Fish Lake Nature Trails, Anoka County, MN 08/05/23
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I think this fungi is called Turkey Tail but I can't be sure. This one in the middle of the frame really stood out among the others with a dark blueish-y purple hue reminiscent of ink from a pen. Anoka County, MN 04/22/23
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Lots of little mushrooms growing on a stump at Katherine Abbott Park in Mahtomedi. Washington County, MN 09/05/22
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These beautifully orange mushrooms really popped on the dark forest floor today. Unsure what kind and I'm too tired to try and look them up yet tonight! Sherburne County, MN 08/07/22
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