You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.

What's up, Tudorinos? It's Emily Kwong.

And Burley McCoy, today I hear you recently embarked on some late night reporting in the woods under the cover of darkness.

Yeah.

So is this your way of telling us you're a spy?

Would a spy reveal that?

Okay, my thoughts exactly. But seriously, what were you doing out spy? Would a spy reveal that? Okay, my thoughts exactly, but

seriously, what were you doing out there? Well, Burley, I was on a night hike. So in about

two minutes, we'll get started. Meanwhile, enjoy yourself. It was a tromp through Patuxent

River State Park in Maryland, hosted by a group of naturalists,

people trained in gathering observations and educating people about the environment.

Now, naturalists lead hikes all over the world, but not all of them, like this crew,

hand out homemade banana bread.

That was pretty cool.

And UV lights provided by our leader.

Hi, my name is Serenella Linares.

I'm the facility director at

Nogranier Nature Center and the program's share of the Micological Association of Washington, D.C.

Okay, so Serenella is a mushroom expert? Yeah, along with other fungi. She's been leading

nature walks since 2013, and tonight, I really wanted to see

the forest through her eyes, to know what flaps and flutters and fluoresces when the sun goes

down in winter. It is a night for nature magic, bioluminescence, fluorescence of fungi and lichens, of insects that fly in the night

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