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Native Californian, biologist, wildlife conservation consultant, retired Smithsonian scientist, father of two daughters, grandfather of 4 small primates. INTJ. Believes nature is infinitely more interesting than shopping malls. Born 100 years too late.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Leaf fungus camo


The big leaf maples are dropping leaves, and this one got my attention.

This variety of "spotosis" might be caused by the fungus Rhytisma punctata -- also known as Tar Spot.

The spots however aren't very tarry looking, so I'm not sure.

But the pattern is disruptive and might make decent camouflage for a camera trap.

There's quite a selection of camouflage patterns on the market -- Mossy Oak, Ridge Ghost, and Realtree to mention a few, and I recently saw one called Adrenaline.

Why not Tar Spot?

3 comments:

PBurns said...

Awesome. If you keep your eyes open you can see very cool stuff at the smaller level... leaves turning terrific colors, strange ice crystals in puddles, bizare bug burrows, expansive mice nests, and the like.

This, I have to say, is one of the coolest leaves ever. Nice! I like skelonatized leaves too.

Camera Trap Codger said...

Your right, Patrick, and those speed walkers and joggers are so busy monitoring heart rate that they miss it all.

DDeden said...

beautiful!