Georgia watched a slide show and lecture on owls, their anatomy, variety, diet, habitats, and life cycle, etc. Afterwards, her and her partner Athan got to dissect an owl pellet provided by the Ohio Division of Natural Resources (ODNR). The pellet is what the owl does not digest. It is fur, feathers, bones, and teeth that are wrapped in a neat little "fur ball" package and regurgitated. Georgia explained to me that they try to have all the bones and teeth in the inside so that it does not hurt the owl on the way up!
Georgia had learned about the various prey an owl may eat. In dissecting the owl pellet, she was able to match them up with a diagram of animal bones to determine what the owl ate. She found the skeletal remains of a rodent.
Afterwards, we all went on an owl hunt in the woods. The naturalist played an owl call and we heard some owls call back. We never got to see any owls, though, as time was running out and it was getting pretty late. We did see some bats, though!
The ODNR also supplied some owl booklets and an owl calls cd for the students to take home. Georgia listened to it and echoed the calls back. She does pretty good!
August's class is on stream studies and stream quality management.
The park's web site is http://www.darkecountyparks.org/
The ODNR's web site is http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/ They also have educational resources and kids' pages.
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