Pellets are the undigestible remains of the food eaten by the Common Barn Owl, which are regurgitated as a compact mass of hair, bones, teeth, claws, bird's beaks, and insect remains.
Colson's third grade class has been studying birds in science so we decided to let the boys and a couple buddies dissect owl pellets tonight. Our "all boy" dinner conversation (Laura spent the night at a friend's tonight and Lydia is no help because she thinks they are hilarious) teetered on the edge of bodily-function-talk all throughout. So--we followed the main course with owl pellet dissection.
I'll admit that I started out pretty tenuous...but it was actually very very interesting.
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| The boys starting the dissection... |
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| The pellets are compact masses of hair and bones...a hunt for hidden "treasures" |
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| Finding several vole bones |
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| We found many claws and femur bones |
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| I made them wear gloves...yuck. |
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| Several more radius/ulna bones. |
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| A better look at an owl pellet before dissection |
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| Cavan found a whole shrew skull |
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| The shrew skull |
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| Right before the "bone trading" began... |
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| "I'll trade you my claw for your mandible" |
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| I love having boys! |
