owl pellet dissection

Posted on October 16th, 2011 by mountain girl  |  3 Comments »

Have you ever seen an owl pellet? They are those lovely little packages of fur, feathers and bones that owls regurgitate after a satisfying meal of bird or small beast.

We bought a box of them at Wild Bear, our local ecology shop in Nederland…

and took them home to the dining room table.

Mmmm. Delicious.

That’s a skull hiding in the smaller piece.

Here it is unearthed – I love the little orange teeth. From the bone chart, it may be a shrew.

Zia got to do her own after Caleb was finished. She could hardly wait – dissecting owl pellets is so much fun.

She tried the gloves but they were way too big and clumsy, so she worked with a couple of toothpicks to pull apart the fur and feathers.

Some bits and pieces, including a tiny pelvic bone.

The final pile of loot.

Caleb was ready to go back the same day for more owl pellets. I think once he got started it became like a treasure hunt to see what he could uncover next. He’s hoping for a bird skull in the next box of goodies.

3 Responses to “owl pellet dissection”

  1. jodi says on :

    hahaha! Oh my word, so I’m not normally squeamish, but for a quick second I looked away. Then I was too interested. That’s awesome!

  2. 3 amigos says on :

    OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOh!!!!!!!/luv u/mom

  3. Kim says on :

    Nice findings! Dissecting owl pellets are like my guilty little pleasure. I just can’t get enough!