3:00 snapshot #1382 plus bonus fungus on fungus action
Any guesses as to what the tempera paint is for?
If you guessed "to get footprints from anaesthetized animals," you are correct.
Here's a nice Bondarzewia berkeleyi that's been at the base of this tree for over a month. Rather than rot away to black mush like a lot of mushrooms, this polypore is resilient, and it was only this past weekend's heavy rains that encouraged this blue mold to colonize it.
"Rot" becomes a thing of beauty, when you realize it is an active living process.