The Daily Bucket - typical November days in PNW

Lichens draping a cliffside madrona on a grey day

November 2025

Pacific Northwest

My last bucket showcased a rare sunny November day hereabouts. More typically our weather at this season is overcast, wet and dark. Once leaves fall and the ground dampens, the mosses, ferns, lichens and mushrooms start to stand out in woods and roadsides. In wet foggy weather I tend to look at them more than the sky or vistas.

Here are a few I’ve enjoyed lately.

A single rock is carpeted with life

Non-flowering plants and fungi are trickier to identify since their forms are so variable and their reproductive parts are inconspicuous. My IDs are open to correction!

Trumpet lichen, Licorice fern, and a moss

Orange disco lichen on a mossy branch

Hairy woodpecker works an alder trunk covered with encrusting white lichens, Witches hair and other lichens

The orange: Sunburst lichen? and the grey-green one Oakmoss?

Tons of mushrooms coming up everywhere. Some are more common than others. Here are two intriguing ones that have appeared lately:

Elfin saddle

Common Brown cup

The foliage of some flowering plants persist through the winter since we rarely get extreme freezing cold, like the ground-hugging Trailing blackberry, Wild strawberry, Clover, Plantain, and of course grasses.

Madrona bark is mostly done peeling off, provides a color contrast

Meanwhile, our vistas are frequently like this:

Shades of grey, dark green and brown

Overcast and breezy today in the PNW islands. Showers. Temps in the 40s.

What’s up in nature in your neighborhood today?

THE DAILY BUCKET IS A NATURE REFUGE. WE AMICABLY DISCUSS ANIMALS, WEATHER, CLIMATE, SOIL, PLANTS, WATERS AND NOTE LIFE’S PATTERNS. WE INVITE YOU TO NOTE WHAT YOU ARE SEEING AROUND YOU IN YOUR OWN PART OF THE WORLD, AND TO SHARE YOUR OBSERVATIONS IN THE COMMENTS BELOW. FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE PURPOSE AND HISTORY OF THE DAILY BUCKET FEATURE, CHECK OUT THIS DIARY: DAILY BUCKET PHENOLOGY: 11 YEARS OF RECORDING EARTH'S VITAL SIGNS IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD