Science Lab #3

This week, due to the Presidential Inauguration on Tuesday and Honors Day on Thursday, the classes were not able to come to the library. However, I was able to have a little extra time with each group in the lab before we started dissecting owl pellets. We spent about 15 minutes discussing the food web of the barn owl and the reasons an ornithologist might want to discover what the owls were eating.

I've dissected owl pellets with 4th graders several times, so I was prepared for some of the reactions. "No, it's not poop! It's throw-up!" I most admit that this year's group was not the least squeamish about touching the pellets. Each student had their own pellet along with tweezers and a stick, a bone chart and a vole skeleton chart. Once the students had separated most of the fur from the bones, I asked them to color in on the skeleton what bones they thought they had discovered. One thing I have learned from previous dissections is that not all pellets are created equal. Some have very few bones. After it's obvious which students did not get a very prolific pellet, I went around with my bag of bones from last year and gave them a handful.

One student discovered a bird skull in her pellet. The second class had more pellets containing skulls. If there is only one activity you can do with a class studying the food web, dissecting owl pellets is the one to choose!