Slugs working Pileated tree

When I got up to get ready for the walk I was scheduled to lead through the Babcock Ridge Preserve, the weather didn't look promising. It was pouring and chilly, and I thought—briefly, very briefly—about just staying home. Surely, no one would come for the trek. Of course, I would have come, especially since the rain showed signs of tapering to intermittent showers, so, just to be responsible, I sallied forth and waited for "customers." A few, in fact, arrived, and with little more than a persistent mist in the air, we headed into the woods. Below the summit of the ridge, we found a toppled beech whose center was riddled with Carpenter Ant tunnels. Pileated Woodpeckers had worked the tree for insect protein, but another group of critters also found the beech irresistible. At least a dozen slugs were gliding slowly back and forth, probably foraging for fungi and algae. I have absolutely no expertise in the identification of shell-less terrestrial gastropods, so I simply watched the invertebrates and made a mental note to look for a decent field key when our journey was over. Ignorance is a great goad in the direction of increased natural history knowledge.