OWL PELLET HIT AND MISS
This may be a little disgusting, but it is also fun!
For those of you who do not know, when an owl eats a small mammal, they will often swallow the tiny animal whole. Then, they will spit out the fur and bones in a compact little package referred to as an "owl pellet." If you happen to look around under large trees where they owls may perch, you can sometimes find these owl pellets. Much like with people, it's what's on the inside that counts, so we like to open them up to see!
TODAY'S OWL PELLET
On our way back from doing some chores this morning, I happened upon an owl pellet under a cedar tree. Soon my two oldest @little-peppers were there with me checking it out. We like to slowly search through the hair with the hopes of finding some bones. If you are really lucky, you may even find a skull inside it.
Red-Pepper took the lead with sorting through the hair, and Pinkie-Pepper held onto any bones that she found. It is amazing to see how much hair is actually compacted in one of these pellets.
We did find a few vertebrae and random other bones, but this pellet was mostly hair. While it may not be as exciting as finding some other things inside, it is still an interesting adventure and you never know what you are going to get.
You can see that the one last time had a lot more bones in it, and it was a lot more interesting to inspect. On the bright side, finding one that is mostly hair is a good learning experience too, since it demonstrates the variety in owl pellets.
While picking up regurgitated hair and bones may not be a hobby that everyone shares, it is a cool hands on project to teach the younger generation more about the world that we live in and the way that the natural world words. I still remember first learning about owl pellets as a young child and I've enjoyed finding them ever since.
Have any of you ever found an owl pellet in the wild? Did you already know about these? If you did find one, would you pick it up and inspect it to see what was inside? We know that it is not for everyone, but we enjoy it!
As always, I'm @papa-pepper and here's the proof:
proof-of-owl-pellet
Until next time…
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Disgusting, but it's nature....:)...
You must know that farm inside and out. Pictures from it every day. :)
We are learning it!
You keep pulling these amazing posts right out of the hat.....Now Im 51, when I was a kid down on my grandparents farm we used to have Barn Owls living in the barn...suprisingly enough! and I used to love hunting for their pellets...which to be fair, wasn't too difficult cos if I looked up in the old hay barn, I could usually see where they were having their daytime nap! Thing is, you must have massive owls because I remember mine being quite small and not as furry, but we did used to pick out the bones, I always wanted to build a complete mouse skeleton but it never happened!!
Can't believe how various random posts from various people in various parts of the world keep triggering old memories! Cheers for that mate. As always, my best wishes to you and your family :-)
Very cool! I'm glad to hear it! It sounds like you have a lot of fun with these back in the day! We thought about trying to assemble a full skeleton too, but would need a lot more pellets to sort through.
Wow. Reading your post is always an adventure for me. I will always be on the look out for owl pellet now to see if I will also find some interesting stuffs
They are pretty cool!
Your posts are always funny but informative. Especially with your selfies lol. I didnt know about owl pellets until now. You learn something new each day. I agree with you teaching the new generation of skills and knowledge which cant be gained in school alone. Those children will have a bright future ahead under your wing
Thank you! I like educational and entertaining!
Oh this is my 1st time seeing something like this..there are so many things around us that we ought to know..and i want to be like you and learn it in the practical way :)
I think that it is the best way to learn, and the best way to teach!
Amazing @papa-pepper I always imagine the kind of adventure embedded in each day for you and @little-peppers
I can only wish to experience first hand nature like this. I didn't know anything about owl-pellet until mow. Thanks for this post.
Cool, I'm glad that you learned something too!
😀😀
This kind of adventure depend on region or country. Someone who spend his whole life in the city can't understand or experience this.
Sincerely, it always fun
I'm glad that you enjoyed it! Thanks!
That's a really good story, @papa-pepper! I did not know this, but it would be really cool to find and open one. For some reason opening those really reminded me of Kinder Surprise:
I don't even know if you have those in the United States, so it might not make much sense to you, but it is essentially a small toy found inside the chocolate, and you never know what you find until you open it. Most kids love these!
Interesting, at least those have a toy and something to eat, rather than just leftovers from what someone else ate!
Hehe, that's true. At least I hope that no one ever attempts to eat the owl pellet!
lol