I think it is a fungus that grows from the mulch. It is not harmful.

Ki mpa is on tbe right path. You have a nice crop of one of the many species of artillery fungi. The yellow orbs are the new fruiting body...they will soon open up and expose their little spore packets in what looks like little cups. You can clearly see those in your picture.

Most of these types of fungi release their spores into the environment by ejecting those little spore bombs great distances. They are usually sticky and can be seen glued to any surface. They have been known to permanently mar cars and the siding of homes.

this is decomposition of the woody mulch

in my world.. it is a FREE show of mother nature.. observe and enjoy.. the world of fungi ... [that rhymed??? .. lol]

i know rhiz did NOT mean to sound that you should be reactive to such ... its most likely.. 99.99% of the time.. not an issue ... just a free show ...

ken

It looks like a bird nest fungus to me, with smooth edges and spores in the "cups" but the pic isn't clear enough to certainly distinguish it from artillery fungus Rhizo mentioned. The former was harmless when I had it, as Ken said, but from what I've read, artillery fungus is not. I believe the difference, visually, would be that the opened artillery fungus sections would be empty, having ejected the spores. The spores don't eject from bird nest fungus, so the open sections look like tiny nests with tiny eggs in them.

Thank you all so much for the prompt and informative replies! I double checked the shape of the fungi (now I know they are actually fungi, not animal/insect eggs =P), it matched the bird-net fungus images I found online. Now I can relax a bit... Originally I was thinking of asking the pest control to come over and check it out for me! =P Again, I really appreciate all of your help. Looking forward to knowing more of the gardening fun! This site is great!

Oh yeah.....these are fascinating little decomposers! I don't think I hinted that it's a problem, did I? Those with nice, light colored siding on their homes might want to refrain from using wood chips (mixed hardwood) too closely.

These do look more like the bird's nest fungi. Those little spore packets aren't shot from these fruiting bodies on their own power, but splashed by rain drops. They can also stick to places we don't want them.

Good job, ken and purple! Say, I wonder if a pest control company would have known what it was?

Oh I didn't know splashing could cause BNF spores to stick to cars, thanks for sharing that tidbit. Although my car's kind of old I really like it and it has light-colored paint.

No doubt the decomposers are interesting. You should see some of the stuff going on in my compost! I love a good mulch fungus, stinkhorn or slime/vomit mold as much as the next garden geek, not to mention the more sentient life forms. Had a fungus that looked like bloody severed fingers sticking up out of the ground once. Wish I had taken a pic of that!

I can attest to the spores sticking on windows. Very hard to remove...still working on it.