Take a Closer Look

The number of times I have stopped and hunkered down to get a closer look at an interesting spot on the trail only to discover it is poop is...discouraging. Is that a toad on the sidewalk? Maybe a moth of some kind? A snail? Nope, it's poop. All poop.

So you can imagine my delight at hunkering down on the trail to inspect a little dark lump no bigger than my fingertip and discovering, not poop, but a tiny frog. We eyed each other, blinking in the bright morning sun, enjoying the rough warmth of the pavement before going our separate ways.

I sometimes suspect I am the butt of a cosmic joke, rewarding me with the occasional frog in order to trick me into examining poop on a regular basis. If I were a more intrepid naturalist, I would embrace the opportunity and try to identify its source as enthusiastically as I try to learn the neighborhood bugs and flowers. But alas, I cannot bring myself to that. Yet I will continue to inspect the occasional shapely lump on the sidewalk without shame (though I will probably check to make sure I am alone on the trail first).

And again, on the same sojourn, the inspection paid off. This time, I was on the ground taking pictures of teeny grasshopper nymphs, sweeping my hand along the grass to flush them from their hideouts, when I nearly put my hand on a dark gray and white smudge of bird dropping on a leaf.

The initial disgusted recoil gave way to surprise. Something about the symmetry of the color, or the placement of it, caused me to take a closer look.That wasn't bird poo, but rather a moth that cleverly mimics the unappealing droppings. I was easily fooled from inches away; I could imagine how birds or other predators would be similarly deceived. Closer inspection reveals a rather charming little moth, with elegant long antennae and a soft white body, the hind end of the wings a mottled brown like burnt marshmallow.

Eucosma giganteana

So whether it is a bit of scat that somehow resembles a frog, or a moth that resembles bird droppings, it pays to take a second look.