Oaklands Park in June

We seemed to have achieved at least part of our goal by adding 13 species to the park species list, while this included several species of Fungi mostly observed by Thábata, of 8 walks in the current trial for the new Plan for Ageing Well in South Australia 2020-2025. The wetland is located in Oaklands Wetland and Reserve at 237-265 Oaklands Road in Oaklands Park; adjacent to the Warradale Army Barracks and across the road from the Marion Outdoor Pool. This park is one of many that have an existing project on iNaturalist set up by the enthusiastic local naturalist Geoffrey Cox (AKA cobaltducks) the project "Oaklands Wetland and Reserve, South Australia".

Oaklands Wetland and Reserve is a popular, constructed wetland located in the City of Marion, predictably the most common two species observed on the iNaturalist platform are the Australasian Swamphen Porphyrio melanotus (below left) and the Pacific Black Duck Anas superciliosa (below right). There was however 131 species recorded in the park prior to our adventure including an amazing 47 species of bird and 36 species of insect (see the links to species lists below).

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Australasian Swamphen Porphyrio melanotus (left) and the Pacific Black Duck Anas superciliosa (right) ptoto by Stephen Fricker

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Before setting out we decided on a goal, a challenge!

Doubling the number of observations (previously 850) seemed a bit of a challenge and beyond our capacity so we set ourselves a goal of each observing 10 birds?

Or increasing the number of species observed within the wetland?

The bonus koala stamp going to an observation of the Grey –Headed Flying fox, a species mentioned as being resident but still remains absent from iNaturalst records.

So how did we do?

We seemed to have achieved at least part of our goal by adding at least 13 species to the park species list, while this included several species of Fungi many observed by Thábata, At the time of writing Sunil and his wife had not uploaded all their observations so the increase in species is most likely more than the 13 species recorded so far with the pair enthusiastically embracing the challenge. Taking many photos the pair made many discoveries including several mushrooms and at least one spider.

I am sure the challenge of 10 bird species was achieved by Sunil as well as several new species

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An excited Thábata making an observation of some Gilled Mushrooms, being careful to get some images of the gills (photos left center Stephen Fricker right Thábata Muta)

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It is a good time of year to make observations of fungi, however, fungi can be difficult to identify. To help make good observations, several photos may be required highlighting different features including the "Cap', 'Stem' and 'Gills' as these features will assist identification.

There are several projects on iNaturalist that are related specifically to fungus. The first is Fungi of South Australia a simple collection project that provides a summary of all fungi observations on iNaturalist within South Australia. This can be useful as a search of the 442 species observed in South Australia may help you to propose an identification. However, many species may appear similar and may be difficult to separated.

A national project Fungimap Australia is slightly different, being a 'traditional' project, users need to join and submit their observations. While this is additional work, it allows for the collection of additional information such as the habitat type and the substrate the fungus is growing on (ie soil, dead wood, live tree mulch etc)

For more information on the origins and purposes of Fungimap and the citizen science data, watch this webinar featuring founder Tom May:

Current Species list for Oaklands Wetland and Reserve, South Australia

Birds Mammals Reptiles Plantae Insecta Fungi