A Short Walk in the Top Paddock

While exercising the dog this morning (and capturing the monster mushroom shown in the previous post) we noticed some other fungi which had the white gills suggestive of Amanita.  Denis Wilson suggests in his comment that this is a Macrolepiota (and that we don't take a chance on eating it).  Happy to agree with both!

So I looked them up in Fungi Down Under and could decide what they were which required a repeat visit.  I still can't get them any closer than that family: the interesting attribute was that the cap felt very light and spongy.  Also one older form present had the little "bumps" (sorry about the technical term) turn black.  Here is an image.
After leaving the fungus and starting the walk home my attention was drawn skywards by the melodious (not) calls of a couple of flocks of about 30 Sulphur-crested Cockatoos.  They were quite pleasant to see flapping through a clear blue Autumn sky.  However what made the sky even better was a pair of immature Wedge-tailed Eagles soaring overhead.  This pair have been around the area for several days - hopefully dining on wabbits.  Here are a couple of images - not great quality but they do show the wedge tail and the clear blue sky!







It was interesting that the birds were silent - most times they come by recently they have been making a call similar to that of a Silver Gull.  Also neither the Cockies nor any of the local Magpies took a shot at them>

Comments

Denis Wilson said…
Hi Martin
I think your large white Fungus is a Macrolepiota. Fruiting usually occurs now, in green paddocks. Tall, and the "ring" (annulus) is free to slide up and down the stem.
The Death's Cap Mushroom is very closely linked to certain American host trees, especially oaks,
I would not eat this Fungus, although the on-line Fungi texts some of which are very experimental in approach, suggest that it might have some mild hallucinogenic effects.
I only recommend eating fungi one buys from the Shops, but your big pink one looks very tempting.
Cheers
Denis
22 March 2010 at 01:33:00 GMT+11
Flabmeister said…
Thanks for that Denis. I shall put an attributed mention of that name in the body of the post.

No way will we be eating any fungus of that colour! The field mushrooms - the pink ones - seem quite easy to distinguish and we err on the side of caution. They do taste so much better than the farmed ones!

Martin
22 March 2010 at 06:52:00 GMT+11
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