Lilliputians -- British Soldiers

This magical little world reminds me of the Lilliputians of Gulliver's Travels

I was walking in Harrison Hills Park last weekend, attempting to locate a less than common bird, a Northern Shrike. I didn't find the bird, but I found this old snag of a tree long since laying horizontally at the top of a hill, and all covered with these Lilliputian-esqe fungi growth. It was amazing! My attempt to photograph was difficult, the only one I liked was this Depth of Field style...
Cladonia cristatella

According to my friend Dick: "They're British Soldiers. Also called Matchstick lichen. They are very sensitive to air pollution and disappeared from the Pittsburgh area back in the 1960's and in Murrysville as well. With catalytic converters on the cars after 1973 they started returning. Still haven't reached their former abundance."

Never Comes the Day...