Owl Pellets

Big Sister found an 'owl pellet' in our yard yesterday and we have been having a blast researching! We know that there are Barred Owls in the creek bottom running through our little urban neighborhood. Also we have heard a Great Horned Owl less frequently. But most of what we see is he mated pair of Red Tail Hawks, along with the going on four-generation family of Cooper's Hawks. They live in the tree behind our house- at least the original pair does. And their young ones live up and down the creek within sight of the original nest.

The Cooper's are fun to watch, as they rear an early spring batch of birds who fledge always more soon than I expect. Then the cumbersome, but fully grown offspring hang out with mom and dad for the rest of the summer and fall... and it seems even for a year or two afterward. They seem quite social with one another.

The point being that this 'owl pellet' may have been regurgitated up by some critter other than an owl. Perhaps an indigenous raptor. Quick research tells us that almost all birds have pellets- a cemented little ball of indigestibles. Whether bones and hair from a mouse or seed casings from the mix you put out in your feeder, all birds prefer to get that stuff out the way it came, rather than passing it through the hard way. But they do manage to suck major nutrients from the bones and bits before expelling them.

In small birds, like chickadees, the pellets are very small. You are not likely to find them. In larger birds, like crows, seagulls, and owls, the site is pretty obvious. You can actually identify birds by their pellets. Which is what we are trying to do.

We know the birds in our area. The kids disected this pellet to discover that it had been, when alive, some sort of small bird, like a sparrow. The pellet itself was about 2 or so inches long- too small for a Sparrow Hawk (American Kestrel) but just the right size for our Cooper's Hawks, whose diet is primarily small birds. We have also seen Cooper's eating sparrows on the phone pole in front of our house. A snowing of downy feathers from above caused us all to look up and witness the sleek, noble bird with the sharp eye plucking its tiny prey. Really, dont eat the feathers if you dont have to.

So that is our best guess. Enjoy a few pics!

The pellet, on a dead leaf. You can already see the bones, that they are hollow (meaning bird bones), and to the left a dark brown claw or beak part.

Naturally, we ran straight to the library to find a cool book about pellets. Big Sister and a Friend did some research...

...and then began disecting!

The bones and feathers and one miscellaneous part were laid out on cardstock with white glue, and the girls labeled what they recognized. Then I had a little panic and microwaved the sheet with the bones. This is supposed to help sterilize the pellet parts in order to destroy samonella or other single celled organisms that can cause scary infections. Hands were washed thorougly!