How to Identify Owl Pellets

Baby Scops Owl

Owl pellets are the regurgitated remains of bones and fur that an owl was not able to digest. Finding them in the wild is not always easy, but fresh pellets are better to dissect than sterilized pellets purchased from science supply shops. Identifying owl pellets in the wild is a great way to study the owls that live near your home. You can also dissect an owl's pellets to find out what the owl has been feasting upon.

Things You'll Need

• Binoculars
• Gardening gloves

Instructions

1. Hike into the woods and search carefully for signs of owl habitation. You can identify an owl's habitat by the droppings covering the base of the tree. Owl droppings create white splashes down the side of and around the base of the tree the owl inhabits.

2. Use your binoculars to look into the tree. You may be able to spot the owl at rest and identify what type of owl inhabits the tree. This will also confirm that the pellets you find around the tree actually belong to an owl and not some other predatory bird known to regurgitate pellets.

3. Search the ground underneath the home tree for pellets. Owls are known to regurgitate their pellets from the same branch they defaecate, so look for the white area. The white may help the pellets, which are brownish in color, stand out.

4. Study the pellets before handling them to make sure they are actually pellets. Size will depend on the size of the owl, with barn owl pellets being about 1 to 3 inches in length. They are rounded and include the hair or fur and bone fragments of eaten animals. In some cases there may even be entire skeletal pieces visibly lodged in the pellet.

Tips & Warnings

• One of the best times to find owl pellets is during the winter, as the brown colored pellet tends to stand out against the white snow.

• Handle pellets you find on the ground with gardening gloves, as the contents may contain harmful germs and bacteria that could make you ill.

References

• Chipper Woods Bird Observatory
• Scholastic
• RSPB