I took Silvio on the “chicken tour” and he promptly made friends with Autumn.
He also did a brief mushroom tour of our yard, and came across a patch of what he identified as highly lethal amanita phalloides or “Death Cap” mushrooms. According to the web site americanmushrooms.com , no mushroom is worthier of fear than the terribly poisonous Death Cap…this single, widespread species is solely responsible for the majority of fatal and otherwise serious mushroom poisoning cases, worldwide as well as in North America.” Indeed, Silvio related that a friend of his died from eating these mushrooms.

illustration of the "Death Cap" at http://www.huh.harvard.edu
They are rare in most of North America, but common in the San Francisco Bay area and elsewhere in California where it is found under live oak and cork trees. Here’s what ours looked like:
Suffice it to say, we won’t be offering any homegrown mushrooms anytime soon. I do, however, hope to visit Silvio’s chickens and get a picture of that rooster!
He is the nicest man! He also bakes his own dog biscuits.