Rusty Gilled Polypore / Gloeophyllum sepiarium

The day before yesterday, 26 September 2016, I had planned to join a group of friends for a birding walk at Bebo Grove, Fish Creek Park. By the time I had had breakfast, I was feeling somewhat queasy and thought I had better not go on the walk after all. Felt a bit better later in the morning and decided to go to the Park after all, getting there about noon. Met a delightful young man standing on the bridge over the creek, pointing out to me a perched bird of prey. My first thought was Merlin, but it seemed to be too big to be a Merlin. It took a while to decide just what it was - helped by excellent birder, Nimali, who happened to come along the path. In the end, we decided it was a Cooper's Hawk ('C' for curved edge of tail tip and 'C' for Cooper's). Looking at my photos later that evening, I was still not sure that we had made the right decision. Several Flickr people let me know that my photo was of a Merlin - much appreciated!

This bird stayed around for ages and gave some nice opportunities for photos, including of it 'mantling' (spreading out its wings to form a cloak) when it captured a large dragonfly and returned to the same branch. When two of us were first standing on the bridge, this bird flew down right over our heads two or three times - maybe because we were attracting insects around us? We noticed a second similar bird, too, and we wondered if they were maybe juveniles, especially as the main one was very comfortable with us standing nearby. Made my day : )

I even spotted several mushrooms and this colourful Rusty Gilled Polypore earlier in my walk. I had planned on just a short walk, but ended up in the park for about five hours (not all walking)! A very enjoyable walk - glad to have your company, Nimali, and that of the very knowledgeable young man we had just met.

"Gloeophyllum sepiarium is a wood decay fungus that causes a brown rot. Gloeophyllum sepiarium grow in thin, dark brown/green brackets on coniferous trees. Fruiting bodies can be seen throughout the year, but it sporulates in late summer to autumn. Gloeophyllum sepiarium is infrequent and inedible."

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloeophyllum_sepiarium