Scarabaeidae: Geotrupes stercorarius (probably) on birch stump. The beetles (can be two species) were feeding on small earthworms or leeches (unknown species) that were in the wet ooze on the surface of a birch stump in the spring. The stump was probably wet from the conduction of water from the roots. The leeches/earthworms were living in the ooze and the beetles were browsing the thin surface ooze hoping to encounter the delicacies.

Images © 2000 by John A. Byers, Chemical Ecology.