Day 2 Owl Ecology Program at Nazareth I S

Here are the results for the second day of the Owl Ecology Program for 4th graders at the Nazareth Intermediate School in Nazareth, PA.

Giemza's class – 11 pellets dissected contained 25 mice, 1 shrew, 0 moles, 0 birds
Miller's class – 13 pellets dissected contained 31 mice, 2 shrews, 0 moles, 0 birds
Rohn's class – 13 pellets dissected contained 25 mice, 2 shrews, 0 moles, 3 birds
McCarron's class – 12 pellets dissected contained 29 mice, 1 shrew, 0 moles, 0 birds

A total of 49 pellets were dissected containing a total of 119 animals eaten by barn owls. That gives an average of 2.4 animals eaten per pellet. Compare this to data from previous owl pellet investigations described in the blog.

An interesting observation in Mrs. Rohn’s class. The three birds were found in one pellet. This was determined by the finding of three bird sternums, or breast bones (a bird sternum is keel shaped, not flat like a mammal sternum, with a bone sticking out perpendicular to the flat breast bone. This gives more muscles attachment points for the bird’s flight muscles). The breast bones were quite small, very likely from young birds. The owl must have found a bird nest with young in the nest and ate all of the young for its meal.

I will update our findings with tomorrow’s results.