Long-eared owl pellets and rodent bones obtained from dissected pellets (1 bar = 1 cm). A pellet, in ornithology, is the mass of undigested parts of a bird's food that some bird species occasionally regurgitate.

The remaining, indigestible fur, bones, and teeth are compacted into a pellet which the owl spits out. Owls typically cast one pellet per day, often from the same roosting spot, so you may find large numbers of owl pellets on the ground in a single place.

May 14, 2015 · If you are concerned about exactly what you might be picking up, watch especially for bits of bone and tiny skulls to discern an owl pellet. Most biology teachers know that pellet dissections can be exciting and tactile introductions to the scientific study of birds.

Dec 7, 2018 · Most owls swallow their prey whole. They usually eat small animals such as mice, voles, and rabbits. But an owl's stomach cannot digest the animals' bones and fur. The owl later spits...

Apr 5, 2024 · Owls produce pellets during digestive processes that take place in two parts of their stomach. After swallowing a mouse or other prey whole, food passes into the first stomach chamber, or “proventriculus.”

Dec 10, 2019 · People sometimes think owl pellets are poop, but the pellets are more like vomit than poop. They are similar to a hairball from a cat. The owls digest what they can of their food and spit up the rest, just like a cat spits up a hairball because it can’t digest all that fur.

Sep 25, 2024 · At the moment of expulsion, the neck is stretched up and forward, the beak is opened, and the pellet simply drops out without any retching or spitting movements. Owl pellets differ from other birds of prey in that they contain a greater proportion of food residue.

Mar 25, 2025 · Owls, those enigmatic nocturnal hunters, possess a unique digestive system that results in them spitting out something quite fascinating: owl pellets. These aren’t just any ordinary regurgitations; they are meticulously compacted packages of indigestible remains from their prey, providing a treasure trove of information for scientists ...

Dec 4, 2024 · Marshall Elementary fourth-graders recently discovered the details of an owl's diet by dissecting pellets of undigested fur, hair and bones.

Mar 17, 2025 · The simple answer is that birds spit out pellets to remove indigestible materials from their digestive system. Unlike mammals, birds don’t have teeth to chew their food into small pieces, and they often swallow large chunks of prey whole.