Owl Pellet Investigation
Adapted from:
Ansberry, K. & Morgan, E. (2010). Picture-perfect science lessons: Using
children’s books to guide inquiry, 3-6. Arlington, VA: NSTA Press.
SC Science Standards
3rd grade:
3-1.6 Infer meaning from data communicated in graphs, table, and
diagrams (graph is created at end of activity).
3-2.1 Illustrate the life cycles of seed plants and various animals
and summarize how they grow and are adapted to conditions
within their habitats
3-2.2 Explain how physical and behavioral adaptations allow
organisms to survive.
3-2.3 Recall the characteristics of an organism’s habitat that allow
the organism to survive there.
3-2.5 Summarize the organization of simple food chains.
4th grade
4-1.1 Classify observations as either quantitative or qualitative.
4-2.3 Explain how humans and other animals use their senses
and sensory organs to detect signals from the environment
and how their behaviors are influenced by these signals.
4-2.5 Explain how an organism’s patterns of behavior are related
to its environment.
5th grade
5-2.4 Identify the roles of organisms as they interact and depend
on one another through food chains and food webs in an
ecosystem, considering producers and consumers,
decomposers, predators and prey, and parasites and hosts.
5-2.5 Explain how limiting factors affect populations in
ecosystems.
Materials
For each person
• 1 Hand lens
• 1 Centimeter ruler
• 1 Pellet on a paper plate
• Paper towel
• 2 Wood sticks
• Gloves
• Bone chart
• Spray bottle
• O-W-L chart (can
also be recreated
in science
notebook)
For class
• Digital balance
Engage
• Record your observations on your O-W-L chart
– Qualitative observations
• Use your senses to describe the properties of the object
• Use the hand lens to make detailed observations
– Quantitative observations
• Record your measurements in centimeters (length,
circumference) and grams (mass)
• Write your wonderings about the owl pellet in
the Wonder column of your O-W-L chart and
discuss with your partner
Let’s Read (Engage)
Focus for reading:
• As we read, listen for
any clues for what the
owl pellets might be
• Add things that you
learn to the “L” column
of the ) O-W-L chart.
Explore
You are now going to be ornithologists (scientists who
study birds).
•
Your job is to determine as much as you can about the
diet of the owl that regurgitated your pellet.
•
The owl pellets have been sanitized using high heat to
kill germs, so they are safe to touch. But I would like you
to wear gloves.
•
Students who are asthmatic or highly allergic to animal
hair may need to be excused from dissecting real
pellets.
•
Pellets, Inc. offers Perfect Pellets as an alternative.
• You will now use your wood sticks to help
you dissect the owl pellets.
– Carefully pick away at all the fur on the pellet to
get to the bones.
– You may need to spray the pellet to soften it.
– Be careful so you do not break the bones!
– Put the bones on the paper plate as you find
them.
Explain
1.
2.
As you find bones, compare them to the owl
pellet bone chart.
Try to identify the animal they came from and
which bones they are.
These can be attached to index cards and labeled with
the names of the animals to help students organize
and present their findings.
3.
4.
Older students can try to arrange the bones to
assemble the skeleton of the prey (like a
paleontologist assembles dinosaur bones).
You can also have students group the types of
bones together (skulls, legs, etc.).
Explain
• An owl pellet forms 6 to 10 hours after the
meal is eaten and is regurgitated 10 to 16
hours after the meal.
• This is necessary to keep the bird healthy.
• Owls can’t digest fur and bones, so they spit
these parts out in a compressed pellet.
• Let’s watch a baby owl
Explain
• What types of bones did you find?
• What can scientists learn by studying
owl pellets?
• Why is this a good method of studying
an owl’s diet?
Elaborate
Math Connections
• Each pair of students could do a tally of the
types of bones they found and create a graph
of their data.
• We could then create a class bar graph to
show the different animals represented and
the number of bones from each animal.
Owl Cupcake
Elaborate
Night Owls
What owls eat
Parents feeding their babies
Owl Listening Guide
Elaborate
Label Parts of an Owl
• Students can work with their group to label
the parts of the owl
• You can do a labeling activity on the Smart
Board
EYES
EARS
EAR TUFTS
WINGS
TAIL FEATHER
BEAK
FEATHERS
TOES
TALONS
FACIAL DISKS
Owls of the World
1. There is one continent where owls do not live. Which continent is it?
_____________________________
2. Find the Laughing Owl on the map. Which continent does it live on?
_____________________________
3. What kind of owl lives on every continent except Antarctica?
_____________________________
4. The Elf Owl is the smallest owl in the world. Which continent does it live on?
_______________________________
5. Find the Spotted Wood Owl on the map. Which continent does it live on?
______________________________________
6. Which continents does the Snowy Owl live on?
_________________________________________________
7. Find the Screech Owl on the map. Which continent does it live on?
___________________________________________
8. What kinds of owls live in Africa?
_____________________________________________________
9. What kinds of owls live in South America?
_____________________________________________________
Challenge!
The Northern Hawk Owl lives in the country of China. China is located on which
continent? Color that continent red.
The Barred Owl lives in the United States. The United States is located on which
continent? Color that continent blue.
Real-life connections
• South Carolina raptor center
• Carolina raptor center
The Carolina raptor center has an outreach
program for schools in the area.
Burrowing Owls in Florida
More books about owls
Formative Assessment
• Have students complete the L column of their
O-W-L Chart
O-W-L Chart
O
What do you OBSERVE
about the object?
(Don’t forget to
measure.)
W
L
What do you WONDER What did you LEARN
about the object?
about the object?
Elaborate – Food Chains
• Seed
Mouse
Owl
• When one animal eats another animal or
plant, they both become part of a food chain.
• A food chain is the path that energy takes as
one living thing eats another.
• The arrows represent the direction of the
energy flow.
• The Sun is the source of all the energy in a
food chain.
Elaborate – Food Webs
• There are some simple food chains in nature,
but usually two or more food chains link to
form a food web.
• A food web is made of many food chains put
together.
Seed
Mouse
Owl
Cricket
Shrew
Snake
Elaborate
• Have students make observations about the
picture on the cover showing the hawk and the
woodchuck.
• Ask them to infer what the book is about
• Read the book
• Give students copy of word sort cards
– Allow them to sort word cards into categories of
their own choice
– Then challenge students to use the graphic
organizer and sort the cards into producers,
consumers, omnivores, herbivores, and carnivores
Butternut Hollow Pond Food Web
Graphic Organizer
Producers
Consumers
Herbivores
Carnivores
Omnivores
green algae
woodchuck
dragonfly
fisherman
wildflower
mallard duck
largemouth bass
Raccoon
water shamrock
deer
pickerel frog
opossum
grass
snapping turtle
heron
brown bat
marsh hawk
Elaborate (continued)
Real Life Connections
• Challenge students to find examples of each
type of organism around their homes
• Create a food web using the organisms
• Share with the class
• Food chain song
A snowy white owl takes flight in this undated handout photo courtesy of U.S. Fish & Wildlife
Service. Bird enthusiasts are reporting rising numbers of snowy owls from the Arctic winging
into the lower 48 states this winter in a mass southern migration that a leading owl researcher
called "unbelievable" according to Denver Holt, head of Owl Research Institute in Montana
(Yahoo News, Jan. 29, 2012).
Dirty Jobs: Owl Vomit Collector
Evaluate
• Have students work in pairs to create a Food
Web Poster (use checklist)
– Must contain at least one producer, one
herbivore, one carnivore, and one omnivore. All
organisms must be labeled
– Encourage students to create more complex food
webs
– Arrows should show energy flow between each
organism
– Sun must be included in food web
Evaluate - continued
• Create a story to accurately
explain the food web poster
• Food Web Quiz
Owl Assessment Strategies Article
from Science and Children
Internet Resources
• www.kidwings.com
– This site was designed to teach young and old about the
wonders of birds. The most exciting part of the site is the
Virtual Owl Pellet Dissection.
• www.owlcam.com
– Share in the adventures of a pair of Northern Barred
Owls as they raise their family in a nest box in Eastern
Massachusetts.
• www.pelletsinc.com
– A source for Perfect Pellets (faux pellets)
• www.whooooknew.com
– An excellent resource for this unit. Includes the PP on
assessment ideas and links for the websites listed above
Legend of the Guardians
Book set
Movie