Found a big gorgeous bolete with a brownish-purple top, white pores (Boletes have pores not gills) and a white stem heavily streaked with purple. It looks not a little like Boletus edulls -- cep or porcini -- one of the finest of edible mushrooms. But, alas, this scrumptious looking mushroom is completely inedible; it is as super ultra-bitter as anything I know. It can be quite common but the specimens are always perfect looking; even the bugs won't touch it!
We always called this mushroom Bitter Boletus, Tylopilus felleus, a Europen species which is also said to be found in northeastern N. America. However I think the correct ID is Tyloplus plumbeoviolaceus, an equally bitter bolete.
Numbers of Common Terns at the mouth of the creek this morning; this species has not been as common as its name suggests and I wonder how its island colonies on the other side of the bay are doing.
In my post about insects the other day, I neglected to mention that the day-time cicadas have also started up, although somewhat fitfully. This is the Dog-day Cicada, Neotibicen canicularis, which has a different song from the Northern Dusk-singing Cicada (Neotribicen auletes). This is an annual cicada (that is, it emerges every year) and its buzz-saw song is fairly steady, beginning with a crescendo and ending with a small descrescendo before cutting out. Little by little, I'm beginning to be able to identify singing insects by their song and time of day.
Eric Salzman
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