Whose Poop Is This, Anyway?

Sometime in the last couple of weeks I realized just how long it had been since we'd had a mystery scat sighting. And then on Friday, Oct 26, Eric spotted these a few feet from our fence, in the brush beside the road.

He was out walking with Delia and sent me a text message, so of course I went right down to investigate. I clambered over the fence to get a closer look. They were much larger than I thought they were based on his photo. Because I thought that they were much smaller, the mostly-white color made me think they might be from the turkeys which have been hanging around up here a bit more lately.

These are definitely not from turkeys. After getting these photos, I found a twig to do some quick dissection. By which I mean "poking and tearing at."

As we both expected, the grey bits are grey fur. Whose fur, we don't know. The poking also informed us that they were more solid than they appeared to us just by looking. A very quick internet search has not given us even a real hint as to why the rest is white, though.

This little bit of business at the end hints at coyote. So, we'll keep our eyes out for falling anvils and cave entrances that are really just painted onto the cliff face, just in case.

Later that afternoon, Delia and I were on a walk about and she led us back to the scene.

What did I spot, but a trio of turds! Well, a trio of turd groupings and they all lined up in a neat little row! The one on the yard-side of the fence has to be Delia's. But that middle one? It looks too fresh to have been any of the dogs that were allowed to run loose, because their families have moved away.

THE NEXT AFTERNOON (Saturday, October 27) Delia and I were checking the perimeter again and THE WHITE POOP WAS TOTALLY AND UTTERLY GONE!

Given the strange coloration of the first pile we spotted, the geometrically precise alignment, and the disappearance without a trace... well, I'm not saying it was aliens, but... *

What do you all think?


* It was aliens.