The Day of the Jumping Mushrooms

The camera was positioned to capture photographs during the early morning light. A movement was detected in the pine tree to my left. Turning to my right, an opening between branches revealed a mushroom partially suspended on a branch. Slowly advancing to the left for a more favorable view, I managed to capture several photographs. The mushroom continued its movement, leaping to another branch and then scurrying to another pine tree.

Red squirrel with mushroom
Red squirrel carrying a mushroom in a pine tree.
Red squirrels sometimes harvest mushrooms and store them to dry in pine tree branches. The “jumper” was likely a milkcap, carried up from the forest floor.

The Likely Argill Milkcap

Milkcap gills Under the pines, clay-colored caps with close gills matched Argill Milkcap
(Lactarius argillaceifolius).

Fresh cut stem showing yellowing flesh The broken piece showed bright yellowing inside—consistent with latex that turns yellow on exposure to air.

🌲 Update: The “Jumping Mushroom” Identified

After collecting a spore print, the supposed Argill Milkcap revealed gray-black spores rather than yellowish.
The cap’s slimy texture and darkening stem confirmed a different identity:
Blackening Slimespike (Gomphidius subroseus group) — a conifer associate most often found beneath Douglas-fir.
Though native to the Pacific Northwest, this one appeared in Minnesota under a transplanted Douglas-fir grove.

Even the best field guess can change under the light of a spore print.

Habitat Note — The “Jumping” Tree

The host tree here appears to be a Douglas-fir, not native to Minnesota but thriving where it was likely planted. In its natural range, Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) grows west of the Continental Divide—from the Pacific Northwest down to the Monterey Bay region. That divide forms a real geographic and ecological barrier, so its presence in Minnesota is almost certainly the result of human planting—for windbreaks, Christmas tree farms, or forestry trials begun in the mid-20th century. In this sense, the tree itself “jumped” the Divide, carried eastward by people rather than by chance. And with it came the potential for its fungal partners, whether through soil, seedling roots, or spores traveling invisibly with us. The red squirrel may move mushrooms across branches, but people move whole forests across continents.

Sometimes the biggest “jumping mushroom” is the one riding quietly in a nursery truck.

Notes & Next Steps

Spore print results now support the Slimespike identification.
Photos taken near Lakeville, MN — mild, damp mornings in conifer and edge habitat.