Sometimes it’s the small things that are worth observing.

We’re usually attracted by the large, the loud, the brightly colored. We’re also limited by our senses. Many animals use or emit sounds, but often the sounds are beyond our hearing range, both in frequency and in magnitude. We see only a small part of the electromagnetic spectrum and many plant and animals exploit frequencies in the infrared or the ultraviolet. We’re also subject to our physical dimensions. We can’t see the very small or the very large. We don’t notice phenomena that occur on very short or very long time scales.

Given all this, it seems there are many things that I’m going to miss on a hike, and that’s assuming I’m really paying attention! Nonetheless, it’s the little surprises that make it worthwhile – the things that make me think “hey, I never noticed that …”

These tiny mushrooms fall into that category. I noticed them growing on the bark of an Ashe Juniper fence rail at the entrance to our property. It helps that they’re bright orange, but they really are very small, less than a quarter inch tall. They are easily overlooked and I’ve never seen them again. They were growing in the small crevices of the juniper’s bark. I’m assuming there was a tiny bit of decaying organic matter there, perhaps the bark itself, on which they were feeding.

They only grew on the horizontal fence rails. I didn’t see any on the vertical posts. I wonder what caused that. They were also only growing on the top fence rail, not the bottom one. Does that mean anything? Do they only grow on Ashe Junipers or do they also grow on other trees? Do they have to grow in tree bark or might they be found in a pile of leaves? How long do they live? What triggered their growth? Was it the temperature or humidity?

I have no idea what kind of mushrooms they were and I’ll probably never find out. The magic of these mushrooms is the sense of wonder they stirred. It’s amazing that such tiny things can hold so much mystery. Is there anything that you walk by all the time, but never notice?