Author | Lightnews

Damon Tighe @damontighe.bsky.social · 6d

Lucked out and saw the bay areas rain beetle, Pleocoma behrensi, during that good rain we just had. These beetles live under ground for up to 14 years, adult males emerge for a few days to find mates and then die. None of the adults have mouths. #Pleocoma #RainBeetles #beetles #SFBAY #oakland

1 10

Damon Tighe @damontighe.bsky.social · 15d

The Sierra Nevada in California just got a flirt of snow on Friday, enough cold to really set off fall colors and the last push of high high elevations mushrooms. Made a few collections of Cortinarius that I can’t identify which always feels good. #sierranevada #fallcolors #fall

7

Damon Tighe @damontighe.bsky.social · 16d

I love UV fluorescence and Craig does this on a very high level with California Native plants. Craig’s ever growing catalog of images is stunning, worth following.

Craig P. Burrows @cpburrowsphoto.bsky.social · 16d

Cypripedium montanum, an orchid native to western North America where it grows in montane habitats. With a range barely including California, this species is remarkable for being one of few Californian orchids having large flowers.

#cypripedium #calflora #uvivf #glowingflowers #fluorescent

1 1 13

Damon Tighe @damontighe.bsky.social · 16d

Wonderful composition. I love seeing the white light contrasted with the fluorescence

1 1

Damon Tighe @damontighe.bsky.social · 21d

It’s Powdery Mildew season for all those that celebrate!

Found in a London Plane Tree today in San Leandro, California #fungi #Erysiphe #powderymildew

2

Damon Tighe @damontighe.bsky.social · Sep 17

#AllThingsFungiFestival2025 was incredible. many good speakers, including Merlin Sheldrake. Lots of fungal activity in the forest this year and a wonderful hands on Community Mycology tent dedicated to getting people hands on skills. #fungi #festival #mushrooms #

All things fungi festival banner before being hung

Gibellula - spider infected with fungus that shoots a bunch of tentacles out of its back

Community Mycology sign with Reishi sculpture in the center

Merlin Sheldrake, author of the Entangled Life.

8

Damon Tighe @damontighe.bsky.social · Aug 18

Nice flush of Fly Death Fungus in the yard this week. Doing my best to help it along like I use to do at my old apt complex where a single infected fly lead to ~7+ years of zombifies flies. Check out imafungus.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.... for a great overview of their biology

11

Damon Tighe @damontighe.bsky.social · Aug 10

Ran the moth light in the front yard (San Leandro, CA) and turned up this Florida Pink Scavenger (Anatrachyntis badia). With any luck I’ll hit 500 species documented in my yard by the end of the year using iNaturalist.
#moths #biodiversity

1 9

Damon Tighe @damontighe.bsky.social · Jun 11

Hygrophorus goetzei spotted this weekend in what is currently the southernmost portion of its range based upon iNaturalist data. It associates with Mountain Hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana) which continues down to Sequoia National Park, but so far no mushrooms seen there. #rarefungi

9

Damon Tighe @damontighe.bsky.social · Jun 6

90 mm macro on an OM1

Damon Tighe @damontighe.bsky.social · Jun 2

Saw my #FavoriteFly today at Lake Tahoe on some Mule’s Ears. The Sunflower Seed Maggot / Neotephritis finalis. It’s the chillest fly you’ll ever meet, all it wants to do is chill on a big soft leaf and maybe lay some eggs in the flowers. #diptera #macro #tahoe

1 1 10

Damon Tighe @damontighe.bsky.social · May 21

Calochortus luteus also up in the serpentine zones of the Oakland hills right now. Crazy to think of what the serpentine wildflower display must have been like before the Oakalnd hills got developed and homes covered up these highly selective soils #calochortus #oakland #wildflowers

13

Damon Tighe @damontighe.bsky.social · May 21

Found 3 previously unrecorded populations of Streptanthus glandulosus today in the Oakland hills by checking google satellite for exposed serpentine outcrops. By far my favorite Brassicaceae (mustard family) of the Bay Area. #Brassicaceae #Streptanthus #oakland #wildflowers

1 9

Damon Tighe @damontighe.bsky.social · May 18

Bog beacons and some sundews from Northern California yesterday. Mitrula elegans is a semi aquatic fungus that can break down plant material in low oxygen aquatic environments. In California you mainly find it in the late spring in the mountains

#mushroom #sundew #bogbeacon #Mitrula

1 21

Damon Tighe @damontighe.bsky.social · May 17

Streptanthus polygaloides over the Feather River in California yesterday. Always nice to see a bucket list plant when you’re not expecting it. #Streptanthus #wildflower #flower

15 frame handheld stack on camera: OM1 90 mm macro

Flower that looks like a mustard flower exploding from beneath two sandwiching petals

Two metal bridges over the very tight feather river in narrow canyon

16

Damon Tighe @damontighe.bsky.social · May 6

Finally got to see Pediocactus nigrispinus in habitat and in bloom! This rare cactus also known as the Snowball Cactus has a few populations in OR, WA, and ID. #Pediocactus #cactus #botany

1 16

Damon Tighe @damontighe.bsky.social · May 3

Incredibly tiny Greeneocharis circumscissa and a good reminder why having a way to scale your tiny plants is important. Seen today near Frenchman Coulee, WA. #Cryptantha #Boraginaceae #wildflowers #TinyFlowers

1 12

Damon Tighe @damontighe.bsky.social · May 2

Youth-on-Age aka Tolmiea menziesii, seen yesterday in the Tacoma WA area. Definitely one of my favorite common plants of the PNW #flower #botany #PNW

Green flower with five petals and four red almost whisker like protrusions

14

Damon Tighe @damontighe.bsky.social · Apr 28

On the BioBlitz this week I think I saw the most impressive fog lichen display of my life. The fog lichen genus Niebla only occurs from Northern California to Baja and only within a short distance of the ocean.

#lichen #fungifriends #FogLichen

2 21

Damon Tighe @damontighe.bsky.social · Apr 25

As part of #CityNatureChallenge I will be running a #BioBlitz at @fibershed.bsky.social on Sunday 4/27

Excited to create a baseline of what is in the cool habit and help people see biodiversity and learn about all of the organisms they share the space with: fibershed.org/event/docume...

#CNC2025

6

Damon Tighe @damontighe.bsky.social · Apr 25

Lake Merritt BioBlitz tomorrow!

Data will flow into the #CityNatureChallenge with observations made in #iNaturalist

A great way to learn about the biodiversity around you and help contribute to our understanding of species biogeography

#LakeMerritt #Oakland #CNC2025 #communityScience #science

3

Damon Tighe @damontighe.bsky.social · Apr 25

Streptanthus tortuosus
Mountain Jewel Flower
Part of the mustard family (Brassicaceae) this plant is edible but not worth eating as the blooms are incredible once you get up close.

Seen in Butte County, California this past week
#flowers #Streptanthus #brassicaceae

8

Damon Tighe @damontighe.bsky.social · Apr 24

Fringecup flower / Tellima grandiflora from Pt Reyes This week. #wildflower #flower

15

Damon Tighe @damontighe.bsky.social · Apr 20

Juicy Morchella snyderi up at 4300 ft. Got to love those California spring morels

#fungifriends #morchella #morel #mushroom #mycology

Triangular shaped morels mushroom with many folds on its surface

4 8 85

Damon Tighe @damontighe.bsky.social · Apr 17

Fire morels are out in the mountains of California in the shadow of last year’s burns.

#morels #firemorels #mushrooms #mycology

2 4 53