Longtime readers will know that I have a bird problem (see this, e.g.), but I have to admit that mushrooms get much better names. Which sounds more compelling — yellow-breasted chat and blue-headed vireo, or stinkhorn and witch’s butter? This is the fabulously-named chocolate tube slime mold:*
![furry brown fungus-2316](https://travelswithmusti.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/furry-brown-fungus-2316.jpg)
I found it growing on a white birch log in my woods; my first thought was that a fisher had met its end the night before, but a closer look showed spores rather than fur.
![furry brown fungus-2322](https://travelswithmusti.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/furry-brown-fungus-2322.jpg)
A fellow in New Zealand has posted marvelous photos of the formation of the spore-bearing tubes.
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*I understand that slime molds aren’t technically fungi, but sometimes the prose flows better if you fudge.
Tagged: birch log, chocolate tube slime mold, forest, found, macro, Stemonitis, woods