Owl Pellets

This is what greeted me this morning at the training course. A Styrofoam plate, toothpicks and some sort of bone chart.

We were given Owl Pellets which had been sterilized in aluminum foil. The toothpicks were used to help dissect the contents and tease out the remains.

I found a rodent's skull in the mix. Obviously, I didn't take the time to clean out the fur from its eye sockets; we were in a rush to uncover the other remains. It would have been best to treat the pellet with warm water before dissecting, though.

...more bone remains.

An Owl pellet contains the remains of rodents, baby rabbits, shrews, moles, insects, baby kittens and/or birds that the Owl has swallowed, digested and then regurgitated. The remains are bones, fur, feathers and, in the case of insects, exoskeletons.