Owl Puke

[GoddessOfGuinness]

The Wild Bird Center was selling this item.
It contains your basic sterilized owl yack pellet, and instructions on dissecting it to find small animal bones inside.
It looks like fun!

[MrCoffee]

1. we cut one open in H.S. biology

the people at the lab table next to us had some sort of rodent skull in theirs.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

5. You didn't?

The box said it guaranteed there were bones in each furball...
You got ripped!

[fizzgig]

2. we did that in elementary school

found all sorts of interesting things and it had just the right gross out factor

[GoddessOfGuinness]

6. I thought I'd pick one up for my youngest

Seems like a fun biology lesson...

[BrotherBuzz]

3. We have a breeding pair of Barn owls that reside in our maple tree...

so we have our own unlimited supply of owl pellet. Jeez louise, I've dissected the pellets without sterilizing them first, am I going to die?

[zanne]

4. I love owls

I'd give my eyeteeth to see one in the wild.

[BrotherBuzz]

11. I feel like I've become a demented voyeur because....

I've witnessed them doing the 'Big Nasty' for about three years running. I'm sad to report they might decide to move elsewhere because their favorite hollowed out dead limb came crashing down this winter. They will be disappointed when they return this spring. I think there is another limb that could be suitable for turning into a nest, but it's their call...

On the up side, a pair of Swainson's Hawks raised a little one last year in the Monkey Puzzle Tree across the street and I expect them to return this spring.

[pitohui]

35. what state is that? and some suggestions

owls can be easily seen in the wild if you go to the right place

barred owls are quite easily seen in louisiana, esp. in season, as they are aggressive and active during the day as well as at night

used to be a pair of spotted owls in scheelite canyon, arizona who sat back, hung out, and entertained the many tourists who came by to see them -- understand, these were wild animals, free to fly, but they were quite tame and allowed people to see them quite close -- they may still be there, i'm not sure, haven't heard back in awhile

great horned owl, the famous "hoot owl" is in every state (maybe not hawaii, i am not sure) and if you ask around the birdwatchers in breeding season, then you can get someone to show you a nest, the baby owls are cute, they are just balls of fluff

check long abandoned buildings such as barns, really, for barn owls but i have also seen them in caves, i think this is rare tho

many possibilities for seeing owls w.out giving up eyeteeth

[GoddessOfGuinness]

8. Cool!

We have an owl who visits ferquently; but I haven't actually seen him yet. I've only heard, "Whoo...whooROOoo WHOO!" in the nighttime hours.

So what have you found in the pellets?

[BrotherBuzz]

12. Very tiny bones that seem to be of the Rodentia family...

I want to see more pigeon bones!

[GoddessOfGuinness]

14. I was just listening to an interview today with the author of a book titled

Pigeons: The Fascinating Saga of the World's Most Revered and Reviled Bird

http://www.amazon.com/Pigeons-Fascinating-Worlds-Revere...

I learned some things that made me find new respect for the birds. I'm going to have to read the book.

[BrotherBuzz]

15. The city pigeon (rock dove) is not native to my area....

and is not hunted because they make for lousy eating, so the population grows unchecked and competes with the docile dove and quail for food. I fight each spring to prevent them from trying to nest under my eves. They are noisy and messy and I hate them; no damn book is going to make me revere them - end of story.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

16. The author said that a hundred years ago, pigeon pot pie was a favorite dinner item

and apparently there are still farmers who raise squab as a delicacy...

[BrotherBuzz]

17. Squab is NOT raised from rock dove stock.

Rock dove taste crappy. Carrier pigeons were wiped out because they tasted good. England has a wild pigeon called the Wood pigeon, and they are considered a delicacy. Uncle Louie raised squab on a small commercial level, and his breeder pigeons were huge compared to the city pigeons. City pigeons are are nothing but flying rats.

City pigeons are the bane of my existence!

[LuLu550]

18. You need a peregrin falcon!

sure cure for the rock dove!

[BrotherBuzz]

20. I embrace any Peregrine Falcon willing to take up residence in my neighborhood

[GoddessOfGuinness]

19. Flying rats...

[puerco-bellies]

7. A little over twenty years ago I worked at the G.E. flight test center @ Edwards Air Force Base

I was just a lowly Tool crib/maintenance guy. Part of my job was to service the jet engine stands that were stored underneath a huge tin awning attached to the east side of the hanger. Owls would hang out on the metal rafters and bomb the engine stands with poo and pellets (puke). Having had some biology classes under my belt at the time I could recognize mouse and kangaroo rat skulls, even the occasional snake skull. I joked to my work mates that I had become an expert in "Owl Offal".. Good times.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

9. That is wild!

I guess they were barn owls?

[puerco-bellies]

41. They were Barn Owls and little Western Screech Owls

I also saw what I thought was a Long Eared Owl on a couple of occasions. An experienced birder I spoke with said that the owl I thought was a Long Eared Owl was probably a Great Horned Owl, but I am sure that the Owls I saw were to small to be a Horned Owl. The biggest owls were the Barn Owls. Very cool looking birds, although they always kind of spooked me. Most native americans think that they are associated with the "other side" and foretell death or disaster. I guess you never shake those things grandma tells you when you're small.

[malta blue]

10. I gave it to Little Malta Blue for Christmas

She loved it (she is 7 after all).

She still has not finished dissecting the barf...

[GoddessOfGuinness]

13. LOL

I can imagine the conversations at your house. "Finish your soup, honey. Then you can finish dissecting your barf."

[greendog]

21. There was a major Owl Puke study done here last winter.

KALISPELL - You have to pay your dues. That’s what Mat Seidensticker told himself as he spent the day sifting through owl puke, looking for tiny skulls.

It’s what Jennifer Detienne told herself as she spent her spring break from college staring through a microscope, looking for minute differences in the shape of rodent molars.

If you want to take part in what could be the largest study done on the diet of wintering snowy owls, if you want to help advance the scientific understanding of a species, you have to get your hands dirty, you have to work long hours. You have to pay your dues.

More:
http://www.owlpages.com/news.php?article=377

[Kat45]

22. A lot of talk in this thead about owl puke, leads to the question:

Do owls puke a lot, and if so, why?

[sarge43]

24. They woof down their prey whole

and their system can't digest the fur, feathers, bones, etc so rather than leave out the backend as poop, the undigested stuff makes the return trip as puke.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

25. Kind of like hairballs...

Only it isn't just hair.

[Kat45]

31. That's interesting.

I never thought about it.

[BrotherBuzz]

34. Sometimes their systems can't even tolerate the wolfing

We found a dead owl with what appeared to be a tail of a snake hanging out of it's beak. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a rat tail of enormous proportions.

[eppur_se_muova]

43. Like this?

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=776403246528520...

[Kali]

23. You would probably appreciate my favorite present for x-mas

I got a growing kit not for brine shrimp/sea monkeys but for tadpole shrimp - the ones that look like little trilobites or horseshoe crabs. way cool!

[GoddessOfGuinness]

26. Oh wow!

I saw one of those in a catalogue, and I wondered what it was like. Did you have success hatching them? Do they require special care?

[BarenakedLady]

27. I can send you some for free

I find them all over my property (in the woods). It is fascinating in a grotesque macabre sort of way.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

28. Do they look like cat hairballs?

Are they slimy?

[BarenakedLady]

29. Not slimy

But yes, they do look like hairballs

[GoddessOfGuinness]

32. I'm going to go back and buy that kit for my kid...

...and myself, too!

I'm intrigued now!

[Okiojira]

30. "Owl Puke" is so going to be the name of my next band

[GoddessOfGuinness]

33. A new genre!

Puke Rock!

[SPKrazy]

36. Yum!

that will go with your blackeyed peas wonderfully!

[GoddessOfGuinness]

38. LOL

My youngest figures there's no difference between the two.

[peekaloo]

37. Eewww. I think I'm gonna hoo-url.

I love owls but not that much.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

39. Did you ever read Farley Mowat's "Never Cry Wolf"?

The main character explains to a curious Inuit that he's studying wolf scat because looking at what comes out of the wolf will give him a better idea of what went into the wolf.

[peekaloo]

42. wolf scat

I just envisioned a wolf trundling through the wilderness doing an Ella impersonation.

[havocmom]

40. Looks like fun. Smells like what they eat...

a lot of skunks for many.

[Lethe]

44. they have this at Barnes & Nobles

i saw it when i was looking for a nature book for my niece in the kid's section.

i was tempted to buy it for myself.....

[nytemare]

45. Owl Pellets and guano have to be the best things made by birds.

I did the owl pellet dissection in HS, and I always wondered how they collected owl pellets. Did they have a large cage with a bunch of owls chasing after rats, and then have the cleaning guy pick up the pellets at night?