The Island’s winter landscape is mostly monochrome, making the occasional burst of colour all that more beautiful. One of my favourite bright spots is the aptly-named Maritime Sunburst Lichen ( Xanthoria parietina ). Lichens are interesting in many ways, including how they survive our coldest months. Most living things go to great lengths to protect themselves from drying out or freezing: two major (and usually lethal) side effects of winter. That’s why PEI’s trees, plants, f

It’s breeding season for PEI’s wild canines, meaning foxes and coyotes are more active right now. Even if you haven’t seen (or heard) any in your neighbourhood, tracks will tell you who’s been around. Here’s my annual refresher on identifying fox, coyote, and dog tracks. You can check the Wildlife Tracks & Sign section of this blog for previous posts and additional photos of the features I look for.   Too often, I see one-word answers to track ID questions online that are rea

There have been some bitterly cold days this winter, with temperatures well into the minus teens and twenties Celsius. Clear, cold days are great times to be in the woods, but you may notice some unusual noises: the snap, crackle and pop of trees! Media have been having fun with sensational ‘exploding tree’ headlines, but let’s look beyond the clickbait. A clear, bitterly cold day in the woods on PEI. Trees do their best to prepare for winter. This includes getting rid of tho

It’s been a busy year: more than 100 educational posts on the plants, fungi, and wildlife of PEI; 79 in-person events at 25 locations across the province; and one popular new book! I sincerely thank the more than 2,000 people who attended my public walks and talks, the 17,500 who follow me on Facebook and Instagram, everyone who visits this website, and all those who took the time to like, comment, or share my posts. I’m truly grateful to each of you for supporting this work.

We’ve reached that time of year when my weekly posts switch from plants and fungi to wildlife tracks and sign. Here’s a nice reminder that not all tracks are made by feet! The dry summer weather made for great tracking conditions along PEI’s unpaved roads. This site near Mount Stewart had all sorts of footprints from insects, birds, and mammals, along with the unmistakable undulating trail of a snake. The size of the snake track told me which of our three species was the culp

Welcome to the final Mushroom Monday of 2025. We’ll end with a large and easy-to-identify species that hasn’t been recorded all that often on the Island: Northern Tooth ( Climacodon septentrionalis ).   As we’ve seen throughout this series, mushrooms come in all shapes and sizes, and can share physical traits without being closely related. The spore-bearing surface of Northern Tooth has spine-like ‘teeth’ rather than gills, folds, or pores (inset photo). Despite this, it is m

Earlier this year, my youngest (and largest) dog was cornered on the deck by something that was clearly very scary. I rushed to rescue him and immediately saw the fearsome creature: this lovely Northern Parula Warbler ( Setophaga americana ). ( No birds were harmed in the taking of this photo ). The Northern Parula is one of about 20 species of migratory warblers that breed on PEI. I’m no birder, but the Parula Warbler’s distinctive call is one of the few I recognize: a fast

Welcome back to Mushroom Monday, your weekly look at some of PEI’s fascinating fungi.  Today we have not one species but a whole group that’s both reasonably easy to identify and edible: Suillus  species, many of which are called Slippery Jacks. The first thing you’ll notice about a Slippery Jack is the feature that gives it that common name: a somewhat slimy or sticky cap. These mushrooms do indeed look slippery, especially after rain. Peek under that cap and you’ll see Slip

If I had to design vegetation for a movie set on an alien planet, I’d take inspiration from this PEI plant: the odd-looking Rough Cocklebur ( Xanthium strumarium ).    Cocklebur gets its name from spine-covered fruit (burs) that look a bit like Burdocks but have two distinctive beaks at the end (inset photo). Like Burdock ( Arctium minus ), Cocklebur’s Velcro-like fruits are distributed by hitch-hiking on animals, including humans. Those burs also float, allowing them to be r

Welcome back to Mushroom Monday, your weekly look at some of PEI’s fascinating fungi. Not all mushrooms have the cap-and-stem look we tend to expect, and today’s species is a well-named example of a different format: meet Orange Peel Fungus ( Aleuria aurantia ). Orange Peel Fungus is one of the cup fungi, similar to the Scarlet Elfcup we looked at last spring (you can find it here: https://www.pei-untamed.com/post/scarlet-elf-cups ). Orange Peel Fungus’ most eye-catching feat

Welcome back to Ask a Naturalist, your own personal Google for information on all things natural on PEI. Today we have an insect that people often mistake for a fungus. Meet Woolly Alder Aphids ( Prociphilus tessellatus ).   From a distance, Woolly Aphids do look like some sort of fluffy, fungal mould on the branch of a tree. But take a closer look and you’ll see that those fuzzy clusters are actually dozens – sometimes hundreds – of individual insects crowded together.   The

Welcome back to Mushroom Monday, your weekly look at some of PEI’s fascinating fungi. I taste-tested today’s species for the first time this year, and it’s now among my favourite edible wild mushrooms. Meet the Olive Shaggy Parasol ( Chlorophyllum olivieri ). Shaggy Parasols are large, eye-catching mushrooms that can be found in grassy, open areas as well as in forests (especially under Spruce). Field guides often list them as lookalikes for edible Shaggy Manes, but they’re n

PEI has more than 30 native, wild plants with edible berries, but here’s one of the lesser-known: Bearberry ( Arctostaphylos uva-ursi ).     Bearberry doesn’t compete taste-wise with some of our other wild fruit. Raw, the berries are dry and bland (but that’s probably just as well, because too many raw berries can have a laxative effect). Cooking improves their flavour and texture, and Bearberries make pleasant preserves, interesting additions to soups or stews, and excellent

Welcome back to Mushroom Monday, your weekly look at some of PEI’s fascinating fungi. Today’s species is both beautiful and delicious. Meet the Blewit ( Collybia nuda ).   ‘Blewit’ is an odd-sounding name, and the most common explanation is that it’s a shortened form of ‘Blue Hat’, referring to the colour of younger specimens. That’s plausible, though I’m not entirely convinced: these mushrooms are more purple or lilac than blue (main photo). While distinctive, that colour is

This fall, we’ve been exploring some of PEI’s least-common trees, including Balsam Poplar, Ironwood, and Jack Pine. Today it’s one many people haven’t even heard of: Bog Birch ( Betula pumila ).   We often think of Birch as among the majestic trees of PEI’s early forests. Nineteenth century writers told of Yellow Birch ( Betula alleghaniensis ) three to four feet in diameter, and it was said that Mi’kmaq people were able to make a six-person canoe from the bark of a single Wh

Welcome back to Mushroom Monday, your weekly look at some of PEI’s fascinating fungi. It’s often helpful to use more than just sight when identifying mushrooms, and today’s species has a very distinctive smell. Meet Sweetbread Mushroom (aka The Miller, Clitopilus prunulus ).   I confess that I generally don’t pay much attention to small mushrooms with white caps and gills. I’m sure they’re perfectly lovely, but I tend to assume they exceed my limited identification skills. Af

PEI’s shores are full of interesting finds, including holey rocks like this one. At first glance, you may think this stone was shaped by waves and tides, but the creators of these holes are biological, not physical. Rocks like this are sometimes called witches’ stones, hag stones, or adder stones, although those terms are more commonly applied only if one or more of the holes passes all the way through. According to legend, witches’ stones bring good luck by letting only good

Welcome back to Mushroom Monday, your weekly look at some of PEI’s fascinating fungi. Little brown mushrooms can be tricky to identify, but today’s species has features that help it stand out: meet Mica Caps ( Coprinellus micaceus ). Mica Caps are part of the Inky Cap group of mushrooms, just like the Shaggy Manes ( Coprinus comatus ) I’ve posted about before. Although these two species share a similar approach to spore dispersal, they’re not closely related. As we’ve seen in

You may think of summer as peak season for PEI’s wild berries, but a few tasty treats are at their best this time of year. One of my fall favourites is Wild Lily-of-the-Valley (aka Canada Mayflower, Maianthemum canadense).   Wild Lily-of-the-Valley is NOT the same as the popular garden plant of the same name. The sweet-smelling European Lily-of-the-Valley ( Convallaria majalis ) contains toxic cardiac glycosides that can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, and irregular heart

Welcome back to Mushroom Monday, your weekly look at some of PEI’s fascinating fungi. Today’s species is one I’ve known about for decades...