Ep. 252 : Mussel Midden Mystery

While teaching up at the Lodge at Pine Cove this past weekend we came across lots of tracks and sign. Tons of Sawfly (wasplike insects) cocoons, some leaf miners, galls a plenty, Eastern Chipmunk (Tamias striatus) holes and feeding sign, Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) and Moose (Alces alces) scat and lots more. But there was one bit of sign that was really annoying me… something I wasn’t sure about. There were mussel shells laying about all along the rivers edge. Along the beach, the rocky cove, and all across the depths of the French River. They had all been opened, most split at the hinge, some cracked, many fragile and crumbling apart when put a bit of pressure on them. Someone had been feeding on these mussels for quite a few years it seemed, and I wanted to, maybe even needed to, figure this mussel mystery out.

What kind of mussel whose remains I was finding? Who are the animals who live in this place that consume them? Who was leaving these middens about? Did they leave any other clues behind? Why couldn’t I find anything?

I really get into puzzles sometimes and this one made for a great distraction from the anxious excitement of teaching in a new place.

This episode was recorded just after sunrise, along a wet winding trail in the mist of a gentle rain. It was awesome.

Corrections : While I said something along the lines of Clams and Mussels are the same, I think this is incorrect. There seems to be differences based on structure of their shells and how they attach or burrow into substrates.

To learn more :
Bird Tracks and Sign by Mark Elbroch and Eleanor Marks. Stackpole Books, 2001.
The Best of the Raven vol. 1 by Dan Strickland and Russ Rutter. The Friends of Algonquin Park, 1993.
Animal Tracks of the Midwest by Jonathan Poppele. Adventure Publications, second ed, 2022.
Peterson Field Guides: Mammals by William H. Burt and Richard P. Grossenheider.