Wildlife & Related

**Bailey Guns** · 05-21-2016, 13:05

I didn't see a thread devoted to wildlife so thought I'd start one.

We have at least one pair of Great Horned Owls that live on our property. Their two offspring are constantly buzzing around. Haven't got a chance to get any pictures yet but working on it. What I did get is the remnants of their dinner. I didn't know what these were but a little time on Google learned me. They're owl pellets. The owl eats little animals whole - bone, skin, fur, everything. They digest what they can and regurgitate the rest in the form of these pellets. These are mostly from a rabbit that was a little slower than the others. For those of you like me, who were ignorant of this sort of thing, I thought it was interesting. I found these at the base of a Ponderosa tree where I've seen the owls perched (Wikipedia):

This guy meets me at work almost every morning. He hangs out and will actually follow me around. He'll let me get within 5 or 6 feet before he hops away. Often I'll be working on a tank or something and I'll turn around and there he is...as if he's very intrigued by what I'm doing.

**Hummer** · 05-21-2016, 13:53

Nice! You can tell a lot about the kind of raptor and what it eats by the size and contents of the pellet. There are people who specialize in analyzing pellets and reconstructing the skeletons of the prey. Great Horned Owl pellets are pretty large, ~2.5--5 inches. I've found pheasant feet and woodrat tails in GHOW pellets.

Recently, I found some medium sized pellets in our wildlife shelter belt. They were likely from either a Cooper's Hawk or a Long-eared Owl, both similar sized birds that had been roosting in those trees.

Small owl pellets are also recognizable. Here are some from a Northern Saw-whet Owl averaging 5/8 to 7/8 inches. I just collected a bunch from the slightly larger Western Screech-owl that measure about 3/4 to 1 1/8 inches. They contain tiny bones of mice, shrews, lizards and grasshopper parts. I frequently see owls and falcons regurgitating pellets, usually one or two pellets per day. It's a major upchuck for them.

**Bailey Guns** · 05-21-2016, 13:56

Very interesting information and great pics of the owls! I've never had owls anywhere I've lived so I'm really enjoying seeing them and learning about their habits.