Owl Pellets

Owl pellets provide important information to ornithologists about the feeding habits of owls, providing information about the approximate numbers of prey animals
in the owl's feeding area.  Owl pellets are often found at the base of a perching tree, favoured feeding post or roost.

Owl Pellets are small, sausage-shaped objects, containing the undigested parts of the owls food which are ejected through the mouth; and can include the exoskeletons of insects, indigestible plant matter, bones, fur, feathers, bills, claws, and teeth.

Owls swallow their prey whole, ingesting the entire skeleton, but only the soft muscles and organs of their prey can be digested.  Owls, unlike other birds, do not have a crop, instead the undigested material is formed into pellets within six to ten hours of a meal in the bird's gizzard, or muscular stomach, and stored in the proventriculus, or glandular stomach before it is ejected from the body.

Owl pellets are grey or brown, and range in shape from spherical to oblong or plug-shaped, however the texture and shape of an owl pellet varies depending on the species of owl and the prey it has consumed.

Further Information

Owl Pellet Dissection - PDF File »

Owl Pellect Dissection - Flash Game »