Occasionally they choose a site where they are fully exposed, such dense thickets. It consists of white uric acid and feces which are excreted through the bird’s cloaca, an opening that is used not only for waste disposal, but also for mating and egg laying.īlack bears are known for denning in a variety of locations, including under logs and stumps, under the branches of a fallen tree and inside caves and hollow trees. The whitish substance is the owl’s semi-solid waste. (The average barred owl pellet is 2 ½” long and 1” wide.) A great gray owl pellet (3”-4” long and 1 ½” wide) I found contained the skulls of three small rodents, in addition to other bones. (The fur keeps sharp bones from tearing the owl’s esophagus when the pellet is coughed up.) Different owl species have different sized pellets, and typically the larger the owl, the larger the pellet. It is just about odorless, and consists of the indigestible parts of the owl’s prey - bones, teeth and nails wrapped in the fur of, in this case, a vole. Do you know which is which? The round, brown object is an owl pellet which owls (and many other birds) cough up roughly 6 – 10 hours after consuming a meal. One came out of a barred owl’s mouth the other came out the opposite end. There are two subjects in this photograph – one is dark and round (left) and the other is whitish-yellow and brown, and string-like (right). (Thanks to Emily and Joe Silver for photo op.) The pictured scat (next to the divot) contained, in addition to insect parts, the fur of another nocturnal animal, a flying squirrel. Should you be so inclined, a close examination of skunk scat will reveal bits of insect exoskeletons, as well as the bones and hair of small rodents. Apparently, even though yellowjackets can sting multiple times, they’re not very effective at discouraging foraging skunks. If they’ve met with success, skunks will often leave sections of empty, paper cells scattered about the nest site. Another sign of skunk activity, in addition to lawn divots, are the excavated ground nests of yellowjackets. With the help of their well-developed sense of smell and their long nails (which make them excellent diggers), they locate, gain access to and consume subterranean insect larvae with relative ease. During the spring and summer, invertebrates make up a large percentage of this nocturnal omnivore’s diet. If you are finding small, conical pits in your lawn, you probably have a striped skunk to thank for reducing your grub population.
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