Out commercial fishing on the water in the inter Kotzebue Sound the weather was calm and there were miles and miles of a strange floating orange layer on the surface.

"Returning from a walk with the dog I was struck by a mass of bizarre fire orange fungus tentacles covering all the stems of some low lying juniper bushed in our driveway. This is the first time I have seen it in 21 years of living here with the same juniper bushes."

Seeing pollen in rainwater is unusual.

The spruce along the highway between mile 157 and 162 show signs of stress, the tips of the branches are orangish and the deep green of the trees are fading.

Spruce rust (Chrysomyxa ledicola) fungal spores found along the banks on the Kuskokwim River

Last month a mysterious orange film ("goo" in the media vernacular) washed up on the shores of a northwest Alaskan village called Kivalina. An orange powder seems an odd product for the drying of crustacean eggs, but could make perfect sense for fungi -- specifically, the rust fungi.

Scientists have identified an orange-colored gunk that appeared along the shore of a remote Alaska village as millions of microscopic eggs filled with fatty droplets.