These look good enough to eat

but also absolutely not

Lately the weather’s been pretty rainy, alternating with patches of sun or gloom; sometimes there’s a welcome chill but mostly it’s pretty muggy: it’s monsoon, after all.

A walk in Ranibari today ended up significantly warmer and thus a little more exhausting than expected; the day started overcast and pleasantly cool but ended up extremely sunny and humid. Still, well worth it. I spotted what I believe was a blue-throated barbet, not once but several times as I walked. It was my first time seeing barbets in this forest. One used to sit in a tree by my old house, and they always take me by surprise, every time, somehow surreal with that bright green body perfect for camoflage, yet cartoonishly sporting a neon-blue head topped with a trim of red. One of the ones I saw today was scrabbling up a tree very like a woodpecker, which I’d never seen one do before.

In truth, as much as I love birds, I am not yet adept at photographing them; but today, that didn’t matter. The rain has brought all the fungi out, the woods were full of their vibrant variety—and unlike avian life, they don’t fly off before you can focus. They’re also just plain beautiful.

The one above may be a chanterelle species—though I did not test taste that theory, or, in fact, taste any at all, let’s be clear on that—but I am pretty clueless on the rest. Any mycologists reading this?

Like barnacles or little ufos stuck out of tree trunks, I saw versions of these in multiple colors; a set that did not photograph well were royal purple edged in gold—and is it just me or do these ones bring to mind a decadent chocolate-topped dessert?

These ones are giving off some serious vibes…

Googling hasn’t helped much as far as identification goes but I did learn of the existence of a book, Mushrooms of Nepal by Mahesh Kumar Adhikari, that I will keep a lookout for. I am not planning becoming a mushroom forager but I’d love to know what I’m looking at.

Speaking of knowing what you’re looking at, I’ll close with a game of spot-the-barbet-if-that’s-what-it-is. Happy Wednesday, wherever you’re reading from.