House of quartz, bird’s nest fungus, galling wasps, and racoon tracks …
This crawling underwater insect is a young caddisfly, deposited by its mother in this stream to live out the larva phase of its life. Caddisfly larvae use silk to bind together bits of leaves, sand grains, and anything else available to create camouflaged casings with which to protect themselves. (Photo: Nicholas Massey)
These caddisfly larvae were flooded out of their stream home when it jumped its banks during heavy rain. Now they scramble to return to safety as the waters recede.
Splash cups, or bird’s nest fungus, are tiny cup-shaped fungi whose spores are held in egglike packets waiting to be distributed by falling raindrops. (Photo: Nicholas Massey)
Gall on blackberry stem caused by a cynpid gall wasp. (Photo: Nicholas Massey)
Raccoon tracks in the soft mud of a cave floor. (Photo: Nicholas Massey)
