Avoid stepping in, but not inspecting
Worse than tracking mud in the house is dog poop. Since many wildlife areas are popular with the family pet “fido” too; it pays to be observant. We all have a search image in our mind’s eye to avoid stepping in. Sometimes though it isn’t brown. Yep the weathered dog poop look (photo above) can be encountered. There is no logic in taking a chance so you sidestep the potential mess. Now try something different, bend over and take a closer look.
Not looking like weathered dog poop
That’s what I did. First off, shape was not typical animal scat. Secondly, I noted the extensive black spotting on the white background. That does not appear to be normal even after exposure to snow and cold. That’s a couple of hints as to this being something different. More investigation is needed. If you don’t want to get closer for further clues, use your smartphone or point and shoot.
I followed through and the photo above is what I captured. The black wasn’t color, but structures crater-like on a “bubbly” surface. Now certain it is not poop. Those craters are the reproductive structures (apothecia) and the white portion is the thallus (vegetative portion) of a lichen that is crust-like in form.
I took a better macro for mine and your benefit (above). What could have been poop was actually a lichen…Cowpie Lichen (Diploschistes muscorum) to be exact. Definitely looked like poop just not the dog variety 😉 This is an unusual lichen; it starts out being parasitic on other lichen. After absorbing the other lichen it becomes somewhat independent growing on soil exclusively (Brodo, Sharnoff and Sharnoff 2001). This lichen can be found growing in every state of the union. Photo below is the habitat type to search in your area.
