A couple of weeks ago, we spotted this beautiful mushroom growing beside the trail. I think it is an Amanita muscaria, var. formosa, which is considered poisonous. I was thus pretty surprised a week later when I saw a chunk taken out of of the mushroom and discovered it lodged up against a tree branch drying (photo below). I realized it was probably done by a squirrel.
I had first run into examples of squirrels drying mushrooms in a pine forest when I was timber cruising back in my BC Forest Service days. I kept finding mushrooms up in the branches of small trees, but this is the first one I have seen close to our house, and the fact that it is a poisonous variety, made me scratch my head.
I know that poisonous is species dependent, for example chocolate is supposed to be poisonous to dogs, but is good for humans. Maybe these Amanita are not poisonous to squirrels.
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