Spotting

No need to remind me of what I wrote. I am awre of it.
And when I confirm that you as well as me move crosscountry, I include myself of destroying things in a minor way (because I learned how to do this over years - i worked in the woods, Alex.) And I also said that you're one of those who are most likely able to as well - but that is NOT the masses. Copied that?

when you look at your own comment, you will see where i got that information. you yourself wrote it- i have give the link, do not you look through the whole text??

Alex...I don't know where you got your informations about how I personally move through the woods - and I did not throw any stone. I just said that it is unavoidable for the usual (!!!) visitor of the forests to destroy things. Don't read a personal thing out of it all the time...starting to bother me, serious.
(and btw, my dog doesn't dig for anything)

@ lars : "Who's sitting in the glasshouse, shouldn't throw stones" { And yes, we do go cross-country of course ;) }----> ( http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/908... ),
------you go crosscountry with your dog, i alone {when i see little 2 mm fungi, you can be sure i'm aware of where i set my feets}. but can you tell your dog not to step on "usefull" things. AND please don't let your dog, dig out another bagder!!!
------ My knowledge , do i wanted to share here, but it get not appreciated: i can now post a very common "jew's ear", people look at it and 1 h later ,they want an id for their "jew's ear" . that's not funny, that's SAD.

dcfieldview- it's seems to be a relativ good guess. grey should look at some pictures of your guess and can/could compare. the caps of your suggestion are also sometmes heart-shaped (not completly round, with the little edge) good luck

Emma, fungi are decomposers, the clean-up-crew (aside from bakteria) of the woods and basicly any ecosystem - producing what keeps the life of a forest: humus. That is why fungi are so important to the woods.

Lars ,that is an interesting point. What is the main reason they do not want you to destroy shrooms? Every form of life should be treated with respect.

Alex - Aside from the fact that you are usually not allowed to walk crosscountry through the woods and stay on the trails (because you do destroy things when you're doing that), your recommendations remain no good. And you know why? 1 of a 1000 if not 10000 has the knowledge about fungi like you do - the rest have not. That means, the risk of destroying things that are still alive and useful is pretty high.

Ok - my guess based on this pic, location, & habitat is False chantarelle (Hygrophoropdis aurantiacus) _Peterson's Field Guide pg. 154

Grey lives in the same region of the U.S. as me, with similar wooded habitat & I see these around me.

yes lars i'm sorry too:)
destroy what. the fungi itself lays beneath the ground or in the wood. what you/we know as mushroom is the reproduction-organ.- after it released the spores, it has no use anymore and get disposed. how do you think, emerge spore-prints and microscope-pic (they dont slide the microscope under the mushroom). I'm also german and i think , 5-10 later as you on shool, THe only thing they tell us about mushrooms was: "every mushroom is dirty,vilty and poisonous" !!!! maybe they had more info in your time ! when i can id him without taking- ok.When not, i look how much there are, and then how old they are. 1 specimen of min 4 would not bother that much (and if you have taken the picture , you can help the fungi, by spread the spores from the picked specimen !!!!). when you pick one, it should be one which has all propperties needed (at mycological-foerays they collect many different stages to id - take a look at "gary lincoff's" spotting ( and he schould know , what you can and what you canot do with fungi). AND i find it really challenging to get my flatt digital camera under a mushroom of the size from a thumb-tip. !!! Gary do what you need to do, BUT responsible (means: let some standing), at the mass i see above, would i suggest: 1 specimen should not bother!!!

Sorry to intervene, Alex ;)
Laying them on the side means to destroy it - you don't do that.
At least here in Germany we learn in elementary school to protect shrooms.
Let's keep it this way: Try to get a shot of the gills without destroying the fungus. Makes it even more challenging :D

:) ok dcfieldview, i'm only construction worker addicted at mycology. the last half year i look at fungi/lichen/myxomycetes from over the whole world, i'd like to study them.!!
grey, they are so many of them, take one matured (not old) , lay him on the side, and take the picture. For fungi-id we will need gills/stem/cap (above-side), maybe smell (taste will i not recommend), texture,are the gills discolored through the spores (when white gill but black spores: you will notice that). maybe injury-reaction. take just as much info as get, you will learn what you need for the next times. good look and i wll look by again !!

It's ok Grey - it's all part of learning the spotting process :)

Hey guys - I'll try to get a better photo including the stems and, if possible, the gills. I'm new to this and should have thought of that. I was using my iphone's camera because our slr was charging.

Lol - I just checked and noted you are European. Yes, Peterson's focuses on North American species. I can probably ID it to family but that's it. I'll give you what I can :)

On a side note, it might be fun to have a "fungus buddy". I love them but I have never had the time to study them in any depth. I am primarily a vertebrate person (with a side trip into freshwater macroinvertebrates - fish food :)

peterson's is surely going about american mushroom !? Sorry, my point was, there is not much to go on: only 1 picture/poor quality, and just the view from above, the discription tells what we see already.Without any info to the gills or stem, will it get very difficult for you. The only useful info is that the cap flattend, but that can also come through dehydration ! ? give me some more point , and i will try to give you a direction !!

Alex - I use Peterson's. I get close about 30% of the time. Fungi are not my area of expertise. But I'd be happy to share what I think it might be.

how where the gills and the stem ?
dcfieldview- if you find it in your guide tommorow, please give me the name of the field-guide. Or do you have more info about the mushroom. (on wood, brown cap- flatten when maturing, and small !!)

Grey, I'll hit my fungus guide at school tomorrow & try to ID this one for you.