An Owl Pellet Investigation – Resources

If you’re using our Dissecting the Food Web: An Owl Pellet Investigation kit here are some additional resources to make the most of your kit!

Lesson One: The Food Web

• Watch Bird Academy’s videos on the “Birds in the Ecology of the Mississippi River Delta”

or “Birds of the Alaska’s Yukon Delta”

*Note all the organisms mentioned in the videos, determine their trophic levels, and create a food web.

• Read Understanding an Ecological Trap, then discuss potential disruptions in local food webs and ways your school or yard could be an ecological trap.
• Take it a step further by considering how changing habitats affect bird populations with Crossing Boundaries’ Bird’s Eye View of Changing Landscapes. To make it more relevant to this lesson, use eBird’s Explore Data tool to see where certain species are located or which birds are found in your area. If you’re new to eBird, be sure to check our free download, eBird Essentials for Educators. 

Lesson Two: Digging into Owl Pellets

• Reflect on the dissection by having students or groups compare their findings. What can the different contents of an owl pellet tell us about the owl or its habitat? What are the limitations of what a pellet can tell us? What else would you need to know to make better predictions about the owl and its habitat?

Lesson Three: Predicting Prey

• Information, sounds, and videos on Barn Owls, Great Horned Owls, and Eastern Screech-Owls. 
• Watch past or current Bird Cam clips of Barred Owls and Great Horned Owls. 
• Go to Macaulay Library’s online collection for other audio and video clips.

Other Cool Resources

• Going birding? Download the free Merlin Bird ID app to help you and your students identify birds as you