Owl Pellet

Another great time had by all at the barn party. While walking in the field helping Lola Bea look for snakes (she was on a mission to find a snake), I noticed this sitting on top of one of the hay bales in the field. I knew it was some kind of animal digestion by-product, and wondered if it was from an owl perhaps. After doing some reading online, and some input from Rachel (Lola Bea's mom) I am sure that is what this is. Owls cough these big hairballs up after they've eaten something. It's all the undigestible stuff--hair / bones etc. I didn't take it from its place, though maybe I should have. I saw online that many people like to dissect these owl pellets because they have all the little critter bones in them. I even saw a site that sells them ($6 a piece). I'm thinking this pellet might be from a Great Horned Owl, but I'm not sure. It looks like Great Horned Owl pellet pictures I found online. Maybe that Snowy Owl my Dad saw last year is back hanging around. It would be a bigger rather than a smaller owl. You can see the little grasshopper in the left of this picture which gives some perspective. This pellet is ~3" long I bet.

If anyone is heading up there soon (Dennis and Marilyn next weekend?), it may still be there, you could put it in a ziploc bag and save it if you think of it. Not critical though. As you head out for the woods straight through the field, the second row of bales you come to as you are walking out, the first bale in that group is the one w. this owl pellet on it, and it's on the near end of that bale. I wonder how quickly the rain would disintegrate this, or if they stay pretty intact.

Owls are quite fascinating. I'm glad that in our eating habits, we humans are not required to cough up these massive hairballs as part of our digestion regimen.