4Real Forums: owl pellet tips

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Exploring God's Creation in Nature and Science
4Real Forums : Exploring God's Creation in Nature and Science

Topic: owl pellet tips

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KackyK
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Posted: Feb 18 2009 at 10:22am \| IP Logged

I am going to be leading a dissection (is that the right word) of owl pellets with my 4H group this Friday (8 kiddos). I've never done this before, ha! So any tips? I've heard I should prepare them for disappointment that most pellets don't have a lot.

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KackyK

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Mimip
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Posted: Feb 18 2009 at 10:55am \| IP Logged

I did this when I taught Science. Yep, get them ready you could get some without anything. That being said, you might get a great skeleton bone. I would get a picture of a mouse skeleton if you can. You could get really lucky and might be able to identify something

God Bless and I hope it goes well
Mimi

LLMom
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Posted: Feb 20 2009 at 7:11pm \| IP Logged

We only bought one when we did it and we found several critters in it. Here is a wonderful bone chart to use.

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Lisa
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SylviaB
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Posted: Feb 20 2009 at 8:56pm \| IP Logged

No real pointers, but it is really fun! We just did this. Found a bird skull, my son was so excited! I second the use of a bone chart.

MaryM
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Posted: Feb 20 2009 at 11:36pm \| IP Logged

So how did it go, Kacky? I have been gone for a few days or you know I would have commented earlier. We have done lots of owl pellets here, both wild found ones and purchased ones and we've never been disappointed. We always find lots of skeletal bones - usually voles, but occasionally birds, rabbits, etc. - those are really exciting. Now the thing is many, many of those bones are VERY tiny and well those aren't so exciting, but each pellet really should have at least one whole skeleton including skull bone and some of the bigger bones like collar bones, leg bones, pelvic bones. The little rib bones and vertbrae are so tiny and younger children may overlook them easily, or not be very intrigued by their presence.

There are other birds that produce pellets - raptors like hawks, falcons, eagles. And I wonder if some people have mistaken those for owls pellets when they talk about not finding much inside. Those pellets have very few if any bones and are mostly fur - it's the nature of the way they eat their prey. Since they tear it apart more before consuming, they end up with fewer or no bones compared to an owl who swallows it's prey whole. And also pellets of baby owls have less or no bones - the parents tear the prey into pieces for them so they are often without bones and all that comes up in those pellets will be the fur.

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KackyK
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Posted: Feb 21 2009 at 6:20am \| IP Logged

It went well. Only one out of the 9 kids had ever seen one before. It was great to see their faces when they first unwrapped them. One little boy found a wonderful bird skull...yuck!

The only part I wasn't completely prepared for was all the fur! I didn't realize how much it was (I don't why I didn't think of it really). We do this in the classrooms at church, so luckily I had brought a broom. But forgot the paper towels, so I kept running down the hall to the bathroom to get some wet wipes for the tables.

Some of the kids wanted to keep their bones and take them home and finish cleaning them off there, as we had a limited time. The only child that wasn't interested in doing that was mine

! He came, he demolished, he's done!

I think I might have some leftovers (I ordered too many). So I'll probably let my meticulous older ds at it! Thanks for the tips!

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KackyK

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DianaC
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Posted: Feb 23 2009 at 9:40pm \| IP Logged

We dissected owl pellets a few weeks ago too. Our group was girls who were reluctant, but once we got them started, they were digging in with much enthusiasm. At first I was a little disappointed that I hadn't ordered bigger pellets; ours looked so small. But, appearances can be deceiving! One pellet had three skulls and myriad other recognizable bones in it!

Here is another bone identification page that we found very helpful: Bone ID Chart

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