I went down by the creek this morning because I heard predator/prey sounds there before dawn. I was up before dawn because Bobo, our Great Pyrenees dog, broke out during the thunder storm and I went out to lock him in his stall, where he was happy enough to go. (He hates storms.) I wanted to see if one of my Muscovy ducks was the victim in the scuffle that ended with some squeaks or squeals of some creature. But I didn’t see any evidence, like a pile of white feathers. What I did see was this Phallaceae, commonly known as a Stinkhorn mushroom, (and probably some other names too…)

I came across it after I threw the broken pieces of a fallen tree limb into the creek to make a small analog beaver dam. I was heading back up the hill to my house. According to PictureThis, one of the most useful apps on my phone, Stinkhorns come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Many emit a foul odor to attract flies to carry away their spores. This one is coming up through the wood chips that were dumped here about two years ago along a dry creek bed between the driveway and Langston Creek. The wood chips, and the analog beaver dam, are meant to slow the flow of water to the creek.

I did not smell any foul odor or find any trace of whatever pre-dawn drama took place, but hearing the scuffle brought me to the creek to be greeted by such a being.