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| TRR photo by Sandy Long | |
| An intact pellet.
(Click for larger version) |
Owl pellets
Hiking in Pike County, PA recently, I came upon the artifacts depicted here, clustered under the base of a dead tree overlooking a marshy wetland and stream. Closer inspection revealed the small masses to contain intact sections of bone, teeth, feathers and animal hair. Most likely, these pellets point to the presence of an owl and its favorite dining perch.
Pellets are produced and regurgitated by owls, hawks, eagles and other raptors that swallow their prey whole or in large pieces. They may also contain feathers, scales and insect skeletons.
Master tracker Paul Rezendes, in “Tracking and the Art of Seeing,” explains that bird pellets are important examples of bird sign: “There is nothing more fascinating than taking an owl pellet apart and examining its contents. People become spellbound when they first witness an owl pellet being dissected.”
Rezendes notes that hawk and owl pellets can usually be differentiated by their contents. Hawks have stronger digestive juices and usually digest all the small bones they consume. Owls, whose digestive juices are less acidic than other birds of prey, cast pellets that contain many small delicate bones and intact skulls from small animals such as voles, mice or moles.
Pellets are also natural ecosystems that provide shelter and nourishment for moths, beetles and fungi.
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| TRR photo by Sandy Long | |
| A dissected pellet reveals pieces of bone, including a section of jawbone and teeth.
(Click for larger version) |
