Scat

Heather pointed out that the natural progression of ideas from animal tracks in the snow to tracks in the mud, should ultimately lead to animal droppings. These droppings are generally referred to as scat if you are trying to sound like a professional or poop if you’re just having a normal family conversation. Well, I should clarify that I’m talking about a normal conversation for my family. What we see above is the normal scat of the Whitetail Deer. I don’t think you can go anywhere in Southern Ohio and not find a pile like this. This is the stuff that makes my lawn so green.

When the deer diet contains more succulent green leafy material, you often get the nuggets molded into a mass. Studying scat can give you an idea of the general health, movement (I mean where the animal has been traveling) and diet of the animal. When I was in college, I had a rather extensive scat collection that was a part of my course work. I can tell you that “Would you like to come in and see my scat collection?” is not a line that will get your date to come in and visit your apartment.

Turkey scat. This is getting to be very common around here. Notice the white substance on the left end of the scat. Do you know what that white stuff is in Turkey poop? That’s Turkey poop too. Sorry, that joke’s so old most people have never heard it.

Crow scat on top of an ant hill. The crows visit the ant hills during the summer and stir up the ants. I assume this activity is to use the ants to rid the crows of external pests. During the winter, the crows will just stand on top of the mound. I guess they won’t stir the soil without evidence that ants are present.

Here’s one of those little bird droppings trying to mimic a caterpillar.

This is the standard M&M sized Cottontail scat. Rabbits consume a lot of cellulose that is difficult to digest. As this material moves through the digestive system, the cell walls are weakened, but before the material is fully digested it passes out of the body in the form of a dark greenish-black pellet. The rabbit then turns around and eats these pellets. The nutrients are extracted as the material goes back through. When it comes out the second time, you get the light brown, strawy looking pellet.
Talking about rabbit scat always reminds me of the story of the man selling smart pills. The salesman has just guaranteed the buyer that the pills will definitely make him smarter. The buyer pops the pill into his mouth, takes a couple of chews and then gags and spits out the pill. “That pill tastes just like rabbit poop,” he complains. “See,” answers the salesman, “You’re getting smarter all ready.”

A fine collection of deer hair and bone. I have a feeling this came from a Coyote.

Breaking it up a bit makes it easier to see the size of the bone fragments. This scat has really been weathered, so I can’t make any guess as to how long it’s been here. It may be part of the deer I found in the field a while back.