Ruffed Grouse Eating a Mushroom
Last week I posted about an interesting encounter with an aggressive ruffed grouse. During that nearly hour long encounter, Bob and I got to see the bird consume grass seeds, partridge berries, and mushrooms. Watching animals eat and studying the sign they leave behind helps one to interpret feeding sign discovered in the field while tracking. The bird doesn’t leave any noticeable sign on grass or berry plants after feeding on seeds or berries (other than the disappearance from the plant of the seeds and berries it eats), but it does leave obvious sign after feeding on mushroom. Watch the video of the ruffed grouse eating a mushroom, followed by a photo of the feeding sign (and fresh scat).
Have you ever seen mushroom remains like that? I am certain that I have, but to be honest, I don’t think I ever considered the possibility that it was left by grouse, or any bird, for that matter. But having seen this, I suspect that the small, scattered mushroom fragments around the mostly eaten stalk, may well be characteristic of bird feeding. The grouse shows us exactly what pecking at the mushroom does.
I’d love to observe mammals eating mushrooms. I have found many mushrooms that have what look like bites from rodent or deer incisors, but it would be nice to actually see them eat and document the sign as I did with the grouse. Have you ever watched an animal feed on wild mushrooms? What kind of sign did it create? Feel free to share your observations, questions, and comments below.
Okay, now I promise my next post will be on something other than grouse!
A few weeks ago while tracking with my regular group in CT I watched a slug feeding on a mushroom. I went back after our lunch break and it had finished and was heading into the leaf litter. It was fun to be able to confirm the sign left behind. Similar sign has been pointed out to me in the past but always neat to see it real time. Really enjoyed this post. Seems like lots of different creatures eat mushrooms. I wonder what will come along and eat the pieces the grouse left behind.
How cool to observe that first hand. Did you take any photos of the sign left by the slug on the mushroom? I’d love to see them if you do. I’ve also had sign on mushrooms pointed out to me as due to slug, but small rodents also eat mushrooms and I’d love to see a comparison of the sign they vs. slugs create.
Awesome, I study scat, so this was interesting!
Glad you found it useful. This is the first time I ever saw grouse scat drop right out of the bird. It was interesting to see how appearance compares to the old dried up grouse scat I often see.
One fall I was recovering from a knee injury and spent a great deal of time observing my local habitat from the comfort of my screened porch. The squirrels, of course, provided a great deal of entertainment. I was delighted to observe a grey squirrel holding a large, white mushroom by the stem (like a lollipop) and rotating it as it nibbled the cap all the way around.
What a fun experience that must have been! I tried to get a red squirrel on video eating or retrieving a mushroom by targeting a mushroom hanging in a tree one fall. Unfortunately I had the camera set to take only 10 second videos (to save batteries). It got the squirrel arriving but then stopped before I could see what it did!
While camping at Windy lake provincial park near Sudbury Ontario I observed a grouse family feeding on a mushroom.
Very cool. It seems that mushrooms are popular fare for them. Thanks for sharing.