Pheasant's Back

Ms. Birdie, the resident canine, and I were out for a long walk along the Great Miami River this morning. At one point she stopped to thoroughly sniff something on the ground when I happened to glance up ten or more feet.  Growing on the side of an upright but totally dead tree on a very steep bank  was an enormous  Pheasant's Back or Dryad's Saddle mushroom.  True to its name it looked like the back of a pheasant or a saddle a wood nymph might use.  While I have seen very small version of this in this area I had never seen one quite this large. 

Not only is walking good for the health and the soul but it can make one hungry.  Suddenly I was craving mushrooms.

There will be mushrooms for dinner tonight and an Oregon Pinot Noir.  Since there was no way to reach the ones in the picture I stopped by a local market and came home with a large handful of morels.  Dinner will be very good tonight.