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Dear All, Feb 17, 2008
I vaguely recall having mentioned this previously in some context,
but in the early 1970's while preparing sidewalls of soil pits for
mapping of apple roots we noticed that scraping the sidewall with the
edge of a small mason's trowel to smooth the surface stimulated
earthworms to emerge from the sidewall. This applied especially to rigid
(shatters under pressure but slakes in water) or compact soil.
I now notice that making use of this response is called grunting
(Nat. Hist. 8-13, Aug, 1989). In northern Florida, earthworms are
collected for bait by driving a wooden stake into the ground and rasping
against it with a notched stick or old car coil spring. The vibrations
induce the earthworms to emerge from the soil surface.
This is all old news but even older news to Wood Turtles in central
Pennsylvania & New Jersey who stomp their fore feet to induce earthworm
emergence (& stomping by Wood Turtles has been observed in Michigan and
Wisconsin). Gulls and Plovers in Europe catch earthworms in damp meadows
by tramping rapidly with both feet alternately or by vibrating one foot
against the ground.
One Robin or one Ruffed Grouse can make an astonishing of noise in
dry leaves which leads me to wonder if this and the gait of robins are
also forms of grunting for earthworms.
And do out Wood turtles stomp ?
Yours truly, Dave Webster, Kentville
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