The boys know the owl. There may be two or three, even. But that owl, the one who hoots outside our window at night while I read bedtime stories, finally left us a pellet. We have been scouring all two acres of this place looking and yesterday they found this in the garden, matted, flecked with mulch and sunbaked:
Nobody was as excited as I was, pulling out the tweezers and asking questions to get them thinking about the pellet. Was it a bird or a mammal? How do you know? How did the owl make this? How do you know it’s not just coyote poo (the most intriguing question of all)?
Then, we started pulling it apart. (instructables)
You can dissect one right now without a pellet if you can’t find one in your yard or don’t want to buy one online. Which is really kind of cool.
Right about here is where I remembered to put a bandanna over Chas’ nose and mouth. I was paranoid that they didn’t inhale any of the dust from the pellet as they pulled it apart. Hello Hantavirus. I find it interesting that people stress the importance of latex gloves in this exercise when a very real danger lies in breathing the virus or dust particles of deceased, potentially diseased rodents. Still, the CDC recommends the first line of defense is avoiding dead rodents and if you must come in contact with them, wear rubber or plastic gloves.
Which we didn’t. Because I’m a compulsive, adrenalized nature freak that finally found an owl pellet after several weeks of looking. I am a horrible, horrible parent.
Minette, who wrote about tide pooling a while back here, recently dissected some owl pellets with friends. She recommended this book.
Anyone wanting a video demonstration need look no further; here’s a thorough, professional tutorial on pellet dissection:
and follow the adventure:
My kids did this last year and loved it. They dissected three pellets and then put all the bone pieces they found together into one animal. Very cool.
Wow this pellet business is exciting! I don’t see a skull in there, but I am at the ready with gouache brush in hand! Who wants to paint gopher bones? I saw a bird skull at Fitzgerald yesterday but did not bring it home due to federal regulations…
Wow, Amida. So they found three pellets near each other? How does that work?! I have a lot to learn about owls…I just assumed they ate an animal and then puked out the remains. That’s pretty cool that the kids were able to reconstruct an entire animal. Our bones, as you can see, are fragmented and soo tiny! I found a mandible whose teeth fit into sockets the size of a tiny needle!
Yeah, bummer Alis. That would have been a cool specimen! I’m ready for gouache, too. We might have to actually schedule it; otherwise I’m easily consumed by school bidness!
Wow! Fascinating. Who knew? What a limited childhood I had (apparently).
Ricky, I don’t ever remember our dad showing us pellets, either, despite all the wildlife he did bring home (owls included).
I think it’s amazing you can actually whip out a Visa and buy owl puke online now!
Steph, I’ve been in abandoned farm houses where barn owls lived in the attics and the floor of the attic would be covered 3-4″ deep in owl pellets - amazing mousers and ratters they are. Of course those pellets represented several generations of owls. Normally, the pellets can be found in abundance near a nesting site.
Do you remember those owlets that I brought home for you to see when you were in the first grade?
Pop, I remember an owl in the back of the station wagon! like, pre-volvo station wagon! did we have one????
Cool! I’m happy that you found one. Yours looks a bit more dry than the ones we were working with…I hope that translated into less smelliness.
yah, bone dry. couldn’t smell a thing.
I’ve always found old ones, never fresh ones. You’re a sleuth!!
Look at this….
Sweet site dude, check out mine when you get a min……
Enjoyed trhis story about kids and owl pellets. I clicked on the link provided to purchase pellets online and saw that they are a bit pricey. You can find much better deals on not only owl pellets, but sometimes hawk and falcon pellets also on Ebay. A few savvy teachers buy their pellets there. Here is the link:
http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=p3984.m38.l1311&_nkw=owl+pellets&_sacat=See-All-Categories