Owls

Silent Hunters!

What do you know about owls?Think about these vocabulary words and how

they are related to owls. 

Birds?Nocturnal?Carnivorous?Talons?Wings and feathers?Beak?Regurgitation?Habitat?Eyes?Ears?Food Chain?

Bi

What is the main food source of owls?

Plants?Mushrooms?Grasses?Mice?Rabbits?Insects?Bats?Voles?4th Graders?

Let's pretend you are a tiny vole.

Scary, isn't it!!

       Owls hunt their prey by  sight and hearing. Once they find their prey, they use quiet flight and sharp talons to capture and hold their meal. Voles are a main food source for owls and other carnivores.

Vole Skeleton

Voles are very much like mice. They are small mammals that live in meadows and on the edge of forests where they gather seeds. You can identify their skeleton parts with your chart.

Voles live underground in tunnels, but come out to feed in the evenings.

Owls eat at night, feasting on voles and then return to their roost where they regurgitate the indigestible parts, like bones and fur.

Owls must regurgitate,or spit up, the parts they can't swallow. These are called owl pellets.

Owl pellets come back out of the owl's beak, so they are not poop!

The pellets that we will be using have been baked, so that all bacteria are killed and they are safe, but please do not put them in your mouth anyway! anyway!

When you get your owl pellet, you and your partner will examine them closely and make notes using descriptive words.

You will measure the length and width in cm and then weigh it. Make sure you write down all of your figures.

Next, you will break open your pellet on your black paper and find the evidence of your owl's dinner. Identify any parts that you can.

How long is your pellet? How wide?

You and your partner can divide the bones and glue them to your sheet to take home and share with your family.

Remember, you have the same bones as the vole (skull, ribs, vertebrae) because you and the vole are both mammals.

When  you are finished writing all of your answers on your experiment sheet, wait for your teacher to come around to throw away your trash.

You will be graded on your finished written work and how well you worked with your partner.

Would you like to see where owl pellets come from?

Are you sure?

Okay, but just remember.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waLiTmLr1nM

...it is a whole lot worse for the vole than you!!!