On the average year Oyster mushroom is one of the most common finds in my area of South-western Ontario. It is easy to spot and very easy to identify.  Frequently they are so abundant that I ignore them and do not collect any at all. Usually in my stash there is more than enough dried and pickled ones.

Last year this was totally the opposite. During the whole season I very rarely spotted Oyster mushroom, and if I did that was usually a small clump, far cry from huge fruiting quite commonly found on fallen logs.

This year started  very similarly as the last one. I was coming across single mushroom or small bunches of Oyster mushrooms maybe once a week. Usually they were too old and not usable for the consumption.

It seems that this Canada Day weekend turned Oyster mushroom situation back to normal. Despite oppressive heat (in the mid and high 30s) I ventured on several hikes and was reworded with several beautiful flashes of perfect Oysters.

As far as I can tell all my finds this year are Pleurotus pulmonarius. The main differences in comparison with Pleurotus ostreatus are: quite developed stem, smaller size, less substantial(meaty). Furthermore, Pleurotus pulmonarius is mainly white, with maybe some steel-gray tones on very young mushrooms, while Pleurotus ostreatus is more of the tan color, going all the way to totally brown collections.

Needles to say that fair amount of my collection ended up in a frying pan.