The other day I noticed a big, dead branch had fallen from the neighbor’s oak tree onto some of my perennials, so I crossed the yard to rescue them before they were permanently damaged. That’s when I saw this clump of mushroom.
According to an internet search they might be Chicken of the Woods mushrooms which “love to grow at the base of dead or dying hardwood trees and decompose them.” Greeeaaaat. I’ve suspected for more than a decade that this 70-foot tree has issues. A quarter turn at the base is a hole I can stick my hand into well past my wrist. I’ve seen chipmunks run into that hole.
My neighbor has had arborists look at the tree (as recently as last year) and all of them have said it may have root issues, but it still looks pretty stable.
I, for one, will probably be sleeping with one eye open during thunderstorms for the rest of the summer.