Unfortunately this was the best I could do; it was incredibly tiny. I think it was about 1 cm in length. Upper Peninsula of Michigan on some moss at the base of a mature white pine tree. Hopefully that information helps; I know some fungi and molds can be quite particular.
Nice shot.
No idea about this stuff, hopefully someone knows. Will take a guess on some sort of slime mould.
Where's that slime mould specialist when you need them?
I think it’s bird poop.
Embarrassing if so. But I'm not aware of any nearby food sources that would give them purple droppings. We also have a bird feeder in our yard and all the droppings on it are the normal color.
I’m not an expert so definitely take my comment at face value.
You sure it's not a piece of used chewing gum?
Pretty sure it's not. This is an area that few people have easy access to and no one here chews gum.