Bizarre Lichen and Fungus at the Lab Trails

http://lalows.blogspot.com/The weather has been cool and gray, but not rainy or windy, so nice enough to get out and do some walking. Yesterday we hiked the trail at the Friday Harbor Labs where there's often a chance for some good birds to turn up. I'm still hopeful to somehow turn up a barred owl before the end of the year, but it was pretty quiet bird-wise; the highlights were a nice look at a varied thrush, several Pacific wrens, and a northern flicker.

I did, however, find some interesting lichen and fungus that was worth taking some photos of. Here's the lichen, which was growing on a dead piece of wood: (EDIT: This is actually probably a fungus - perhaps Xylaria hypoxylon, also known as stag's horn or candlestick fungus. Thanks Dave!)

And these were the blackest mushrooms I have ever seen. Many of them were smushed and looked like burnt wood, but here was one that was still fairly intact. Never seen anything quite like it: