Nifty North Carolina Nature

In the past few weeks, I've been fortunate enough to be able to observe and photograph some nifty natural phenomena. Just as I was leaving the American Tobacco Campus, after a meeting, I saw a luna moth (Actias luna) lying on the ground. I've only seen maybe two or three in my life, since they aren't very common here, but this is the closest look I've ever had at one. Unfortunately, since it was blowing around a bit, I think it was a little past its prime, but it was still beautiful.

I also observed some mushrooms on the Academic Quad of Duke's West Campus.

This is what mushrooms in the same patch looked like the next day. I have no idea what kind they were. I've just discovered that trying to identify mushrooms based on photographs on the web is highly difficult for the completely inexperienced. They might be Chlorophyllum molybdites and they might not.