They can also determine if an owl’s diet changes on a seasonal basis and therefore, if there is more than one prey type important to the owl’s survival over the course of the year. Firstly, they can determine the diets of owls by identifying the animals which remain in the pellets, mainly by identifying the tiny skulls. There are several things which scientists can study by dissecting owl pellets. And since the gizzard is a highly efficient organ, the bones and skull will be perfectly clean. If they are dissected carefully, you will end up with a pile of fur (which looks like the loose fluff that comes from the lint trap of your drier), a collection of tiny bones and a very small skull. The fascinating thing about owl pellets is that they can be easily pulled apart and examined in order to determine what the owl has been eating. After all, they did not come out the back end of the owl but the front end. They are perfectly safe to pick up as they don’t contain any bacteria or parasites. Once the pellets have dried, they are light- to dark-grey masses of fur and bones which look as if they are made of paper mache.
Pellets can also be found at the base of fence posts and beneath the owl’s nest. Since many owls will use the same perches during the year, it’s possible to find one of those perches by locating a pile of dried pellets on the ground beneath the perch.
The owl regurgitates this pellet and spits it out wherever they happen to be perched at the time. The remaining non-digestible material (bones and fur) has been clumped together into a rounded pellet the size and shape of your thumb. Over the course of a couple of hours, the mouse is broken down and everything that is digestible moves from the gizzard into the intestines. This muscle action pulls the prey item apart as it softens. The mouse enters the gizzard and is broken apart by a combination of powerful digestive juices and strong rotating forces from the gizzard muscles. This is a small, fist-shaped organ which is surrounded by bands of muscles.
The entire prey, say a mouse, slides down the owl’s throat and enters their gizzard.īirds do not have a stomach like mammals do, but they have a gizzard. Because the majority of the owl diet is composed of small mammals (such as mice, voles, lemmings, shrews, etc.) the bird is able to swallow their prey whole, bypassing the need to chew their food. Like all other birds, owls have no teeth and are unable to chew their food. But fear not, your birding partner is not losing their mind they’re holding up a fascinating window into the lives of that most secretive of birds, the owls. It’s the right size and shape and even seems to be the right texture. Which is not a surprising reaction because, after all, the typical owl pellet looks (to the un-initiated eyes) like a large, dried dog poo. The first reaction of most people is to take a step backwards and wonder if you’ve chosen the wrong person to travel with. If you start hanging out with birdwatchers, it is inevitable the day will come when one of them bends down to poke around in the grass, comes up with a grey, lumpy thing and declares it to be “a rather nice owl pellet”.
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