This one propped up right next to our road in the property on a steep climb. I saw it while driving down yesterday. After parking the car, went back uphill to check it out.

Apparently, (learnt from Sharmila who saw it is some discussion posts in our local forum) these are poisonous and pets should not be allowed to ingest them. That got me doing some reading up on how to visibly diagnose which mushroom is poisonous and which one is not.

Turns out there is no way of doing it. You have to know your mushrooms. However, I did learn a few things about mushrooms on the way.

Do you know what you call a person who actually knows their mushrooms? A mycologist! Turns out, that has Greek origins meaning “study of fungus”.

A mushroom is actually the reproductive organ of a fungus.

Also, being a fungus, evolution wise, a mushroom is closer to animals than plants!

The eastern and southern skies were completely taken over by the dark clouds. We got some rain but most of it moved east of us. The colorful houseboats looked pretty against the dark horizon.

Nikita and I have started a project. The colorful birds are coming in but they are very skittish. If we sit anywhere within 10 yards to watch them, they tend to fly away.

So, we are trying out something different. We set up my iPhone very close to one of the bird feeder. (you can see it on the left top picture). And then started streaming the camera to my laptop using a handy app.

Then sitting in the kitchen, we checked out all the birds on our screen!! We did not even have to go out.

We need to improve from here. For one, the camera needs to be lower. For another, I need to get the zoom going…

Here is a funny thing… Every time a bird appeared on the screen, both of us would involuntarily start talking in hush hush voices. And then would laugh out realizing the mistake we were making…