Owl Pellet Lab
Background Research
Scientist
Section
Date
FIRST: DO A “SAVE AS” AND SAVE
THIS TO YOUR H DRIVE.
Be sure your name is in the document’s name,
such as “<Your Section> <Your Name> Owl Research”
ex.: 7-0 Rachel Carson Owl Research
SECOND: READ FROM HERE TO “DUE
DATE” BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING
ELSE!!
GOAL: What can we learn about energy flow* in ecosystems from owl pellets?
** = food webs, food chains, energy pyramids, energy roles, the Second Law of
Ecology
DIRECTIONS: You will work by yourself. Use the Internet to find the answers to these questions. The
better your answer, the better your grade will be – in other words, don’t just write in a value; give
some supporting details, interesting facts, etc. with each answer!! Don’t just copy from the Internet—
plagiarism is illegal!
Be sure your writing is grammatically correct! Read what you’ve written before I do!
You must have at least three (3) different sources in all, properly formatted at the end
of your work. You do NOT need to site sources for pictures (although you certainly may!). Be sure
to cite your source with a correctly format citation! Use Noodletools! Remember your research
project in ELA.
You will have 2 classes in the library to work on this; it is your responsibility to use homework time, RA
and/or clinic if you need additional time. Consider a flash drive, or emailing your document back and
forth to yourself, or using a cloud service if you have one available.
Your finished research document will be COPIED into the Hand-In Folder by…. Here’s a link on how to
do that. Scroll to the end of this document to view the grade sheet for this project.
DUE DATE: __Wednesday, April 15____
Total Points = 35
Now you can begin…
Part A. General Information.
1. What does a Barn Owl look like? Include color, size, defining characteristics… (3 pts.)
Start typing after the arrow and the space will automatically enlarge to fit your
answer! This will happen after EVERY arrow for each question!
4. Find a picture of a Barn Owl and paste it here: (1 pt.)
5. Where does a Barn Owl live? What is its habitat? DO NOT tell me “a barn!” Nor will I
accept “in every continent besides Antarctica”!! (2 pts.)
7. Other interesting facts about Barn Owls? (2 pts.)
Be sure to get the sources you used for Part A properly into your Owl Lab project in NoodleTools
(2 pts.)
Part B. Pellets
11. How / why does a Barn Owl make a pellet? Be scientifically detailed in your answer.
Be sure to include the words crop and gizzard. You may write a numbered list or a
paragraph, but be sure it is grammatically correct! (4 pts.)
.
Be sure to get the sources you used for Part B properly into your Owl Lab project in NoodleTools
(2 pts.)
Part C. Prey and Food Web of the Barn Owl
17. What are the 3 most common foods eaten by Barn Owls who live someplace in the United
States? Include the mass and habitat of these prey organisms. (6 pts.)
Organism
Mass -include UNITS!!
Habitat
Include pictures of these prey organisms if you want for up to 2 points extra credit.
23. What types of things do the prey animals eat? (Think FOOD WEB!) Can you find at least 2
organisms for each prey? (6 pts.)
Organism (should be same as
#17, above!)
eats
eats
Include pictures of the Barn Owl’s prey’s food for up to 2 points extra credit:
Be sure to get the sources you used for Part C properly into your Owl Lab project in NoodleTools
(2 pts.)
Here’s how this project will be graded:
1
Characteristics
3
size, color
4
Owl Picture
1
5
Owl habitat
2
7
Interesting Info
2
11
How pellets form
crop gizzard
4
grammar
17
3 prey – mass &
habitat
6
EC
Prey Pics
2
23
2 things prey eat
6
EC
Pics of prey’s
food
2
Citations – at
least 3
6
Conventions
5
TOTAL PTS
35