777 Searching for King Toad upon his toadstool thrown

http://www.cafepress.com/bytelandart/3264535
Click on above link to get I Love Toadstool gifts and apparel

All photographs will be made available on gifts and apparel in the Naturalist Gallery at
http://www.cafepress.com/bytelandart/531468

On 7/7/07 while many YouTubers were in New York City, I found myself searching through the forest, fields and urban jungle for that ever elusive King Toad perched upon his toadstool thrown.

A true toadstool is any mushroom that a toad comes to perch upon. But to find a toad perched upon a mushroom is quite a task. To begin with, if you expect to find a toad sitting upon a toadstool, one must hunt for mushrooms at night after a good soaking rainfall. Since mushroom come out in greatest abundance after a heavy rain, you must wait for that perfect time of year when mushrooms are in greatest abundance. As it happened for me, 7/7/07 was the perfect time to go hunting for mushrooms and toadstools.

You can search your entire life and never find a toad perched upon a toadstool. It is a sight, perhaps, reserved for those few who live in tune with nature and are not afraid to venture through the woods, forests and meadows at night. But if you are not afraid of the dark and want a real challenge, then search for a toad perched upon a toadstool. It will keep you busy, out of the bars and pubs and off the highways where many are killed each year by drunk drivers at night. Ah, but I realize I'm probably rare as a toad perched upon a toad stool, as who but me would spend their nights in search of that elusive toad that has found its thrown?

I searched far and wide on 7/7/07 finding many a mushroom which I photographed to show and tell. But although I saw many toads attracted to steet lights, lurking, waiting to catch any bug or beetle that might move, I found none perched upon a mushroom. I wondered up and down stream beds with my headlamp beaming into the night. There were many toads about, but none had found their thrown. So I searched farther and deeper into the woods, but still found only mushrooms and no toad with its thrown.

I had about given up the quest when suddenly while returning home I chanced upon a small cluster of brown, spongy mushrooms with a toad perched atop! It was that one-in-a-million find and I busied myself taking photographs of the King Toad upon his mushroom throne. After a series of shots I got a little too close and disturbed the toad which hopped off its thrown and disappeared into the grass. But I had found my toadstool and gotten those once-in-a-life time photographs of a King Toad upon its toadstool thrown.

Now I realize searching for mushrooms through the night and seeking that elusive King Toad upon its toadstool thrown is not a challenge everyone is likely to embrace. In fact, I'm probably much like the toad upon its thrown, that one-in-a-million person who would even think to go toadstool hunting. But you can see from the photographs of the many beautiful mushrooms I took, that such an adventure brings its own rewards, a bounty of natural wonders and treasures which can only be discovered by one who goes forth into the night searching for creatures which glow, searching for that elusive toad perched upon its toadstool thrown.

Enjoy the slides and photographs of mushrooms. I will be posting these in the Naturalist Gallery which I host on CafePress so that everyone who in interested in mushrooms may buy these on gifts and apparel. They make very beautiful prints that you are not likely to find anywhere else.

Links will be added when posted in the Naturalist Gallery at
http://www.cafepress.com/bytelandart/531468

Photographs in order

1. A towering gilled mushroom http://www.cafepress.com/bytelandart/3267287
2. Underside of a gilled mushroom cap (not in gallery)
3. Cupped mushroom http://www.cafepress.com/bytelandart/3265227
4. Golden mushroom http://www.cafepress.com/bytelandart/3265222
5. Large and small mushroom http://www.cafepress.com/bytelandart/3267125
6. Midnight Pancake http://www.cafepress.com/bytelandart/3267149
7. Underside of a spongy mushroom http://www.cafepress.com/bytelandart/3267251
8. Magnification of spongy mushroom 20X http://www.cafepress.com/bytelandart/3267201
9. Magnification of spongy mushroom 20X full field http://www.cafepress.com/bytelandart/3267224
10. Green cupped mushroom http://www.cafepress.com/bytelandart/3265230
11. Red giant http://www.cafepress.com/bytelandart/3267177
12. Toad upon a toadstool throne http://www.cafepress.com/bytelandart/3267303
13. Close up of toad upon a toadstool http://www.cafepress.com/bytelandart/3267272
14. I Love Toadstools http://www.cafepress.com/bytelandart/3264535
15. Umbrella (not shown in video) http://www.cafepress.com/bytelandart/3267361
16. Inhibited Opening (not shown in video) http://www.cafepress.com/bytelandart/3267341
17. UFO (not shown in video) http://www.cafepress.com/bytelandart/3267317
18. Naturalist (mating toads not shown in video) http://www.cafepress.com/bytelandart/3167125

Note: Toadstools are defined as any of a number of fleshy, umbrella-shaped fungi; mushroom; especially, in popular usage, any poisonous mushroom. Herein a toadstool is a mushroom that is actually used as a perch by a toad.

Copyright 2007 by TALGSD. All rights reserved.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• 777
• toads
• king
• toadstools
• frogs
• nature
• naturalist
• night
• hunting
• southern
• toad
• herpetology
• herpetologist

[goneviral69]

Leave the urban jungle and adventure forth into the wild, into the green spots on the map, for that is where you will find peace, happiness and treasures beyond all measure. Maybe one day I will meet you there by a river or waterfall, in the forest green as fireflies flash and sparkle, dancing through the night, and mushrooms explode their spores invisible to all but the most inquisitive.

[lafanfafra]

Toads and Toadstools: The Natural History, Mythology and Cultural Oddities of This Strange Association

Adrian Morgan (Author)

nice issue

amazon. Toads-Toadstools-Mythology-Cul­tural-Association

[Rina007Tyson]

i never knew someone could know so much about mushrooms. lmfao.

[Kabukihomewood]

cute shrooms, can you identify any of them? there are great field guides to help you. Some mushrooms are super deadly!!