Spotting

I had a slight cold at the time so I did not sense a distinctive smell, even up close. Thanks again for your input, Emilie.

You are right, Jae, it is extremely difficult and often impossible to identify a fungus from a photo. Most of them vary a lot and/or resemble other species. Sometimes the odor can help; I. benzoinum has a very typical smell.
Otherwise, only a microscope can help out.

@theveganpanda Thanks for your suggestions, though I'm quite certain this isn't a Coriolus (Trametes) species. Trametes species grow on hardwood and the fungi in my photo grew on softwood.
@Emilie Thank you for your suggestion. I also thought it was Heterobasidion annosum and had previously identified it as such. However I showed my photos to an expert and he told me that the rusty brown discoloration of the pores suggests a different species. He thought it could be Ischnoderma benzoinum or Postia fragilis, but I would need to collect a sample for analysis to be certain.

@theveganpanda Please provide a reference to support your suggestions. They should be genus and species if possible. Thanks.

Looks more like Heterobasidion annosum. Check this out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heterobasid...

Thank you for your kind comment, Leuba. In Holland they are called Pine killer (Dennenmoorder), though I'm still not sure if I even used the right ID for these fungi. I too find the undersides of these brackets very interesting, especially the colouration on the bigger ones.

Lovely spotting although it's a pathogen. I am always amazed at how these brackets ( both here and in the Northern Hemisphere) are basically the same shape but have such minute differences that stand out. The underside is very interesting.