Owl Pellet Dissection with Mrs. Sirico’s 3rd Graders

On Friday, April 30 I worked with Mrs. Sirico’s 3rd Grade students as ornithologists studying the predator-prey relationship of owls. We dissected 11 Barn Owl pellets and found 31 mice, 1 shrew, 2 moles and no birds. The average of 3.1 prey per pellet is a bit higher than usual, as is the 2 moles being eaten and only 1 shrew. Compare these numbers to other owl pellet dissections in my blog. If we add this data to the data collected with other classes we see that mice are still the preferred food, with shrews a second choice and mole and birds a third.