Casting a pellet is a totally normal thing that Snowy Owls, and all owls do. You may even have dissected a pellet in biology class. I just had no idea until seeing Snowy do this that they could be so enormous!
You can view the first three episodes here: Snowy Owl Film Project. All five will eventually be found on this page. Almost finished with Part Four: Snowy Owl Takes a Bath 🙂
A Snowy Owl Comes to Cape Ann
Part Three: Snowy Owl Casts a Pellet
Once or twice a day an owl casts, or regurgitates, a pellet, which is a mass of undigested parts of the bird’s food. Pellets form after an owl has fed. The owl often casts a pellet, and goes poop, shortly before heading out to hunt.
Pellets contain sharp-edged bones and teeth that could damage the bird’s lower digestive tract. Its presence prevents the owl from swallowing fresh prey.
This is certainly something that I have never seen before.
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I don’t think I would want to have to do that twice a day. It might make me want to switch to vegetarian fare.
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