My mum was out walking the dogs the other evening when a Barn Owl flew over her head. She noted where it landed and came home to tell me.
The next day we went out and searched around the bottom of the tree, realising that this must be a regular roost as the ground surrounding the tree was littered with owl pellets in varying stages of decomposition.
On closer inspection the grass and fallen logs close to the tree were scattered with tens of skulls and bones from previous pellets.
It’s half term and most of the week it has been raining heavily so dissecting these pellets was an interesting thing to do
The pellets contained complete skulls and a few broken ones, as well as hundreds of tiny bones.
The pellets then went to Linda and Bob who are much better at identifying bones than me.
The results were:
The 38 skulls and upper palate were
a) Common Shrew 1
b) Pygmy Shrew 1
c) Rat 0
d) Wood Mouse 4
e) Field Vole 32
And the 53 half lower jaws were
a) Common Shrew 1
b) Pygmy Shrew 1
c) Rat 1
d) Wood Mouse 4
e) Field Vole 46
Even with the wet weather, this barn owls seems to be eating well
One thing I noticed was the different length in teeth. Rodents, like wood mice and voles have a single pair of growing incisors in both the upper and lower jaw that must be kept short by gnawing. Their incisors are used for a range of functions such as bitting through wood, the skin of fruit and nuts, as well as small insects.
Rodents don’t have canine teeth like many other mammals, they have a diastema (large gap) between their incisors and premolars. The gap allows them to move their food from their cheeks for continuous eating.
Get Your Boots On has been recently reviewed by Get Out With The Kids, click below to read.
Pingback: Barn Owl Pellets – Wildonline.blog
I have been reading but not commenting on your wonderful blog. When I was walking around the trees of Morro Bay I saw pellets but not sure if they could hold a mouse or vole head ? It was a very long time ago.
parsnip
LikeLiked by 1 person
Plenty of other birds throw up pellets including crows and robins
LikeLike
In Ireland voles are relatively recent comers so barn owls would have relied a lot on mice and rats. In a more recent study from county Cork where voles are now abundant the owls were mostly taking them and white toothed shrews (another recent arrival here).
LikeLiked by 1 person
Never heard of a white toothed shrew. Just had to look it up
LikeLike
My goodness, I had no idea field voles were so common! This was fascinating, thanks for sharing the results!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Doing well on this piece of farm land
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve never seen an owl pellet. What an interesting story they tell with all those details. Good luck getting a view, and maybe picture, of the owl.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you. I would love to get some photos
LikeLiked by 1 person
Very cool – morbid but fascinating. I love your attention to detail.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, I’ve just updated the blog as the results of all the skulls has just come back
LikeLiked by 1 person
Not a good place to be a field vole then. Thanks for this.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The owl seems to be a good hunter.
It was in the field next door to my house last night, but too dark to get a photo
LikeLike
What a wonderful find! I just love dissecting pellets!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m waiting to see the actual owl 🙂
LikeLike