Owls, in my opinion are one of the coolest groups of birds out there. Their unique appearance and their amazing hunting capabilities make them an especially interesting group of birds. Out of all the types of birds we studied this year, owls were my daughter's favorite.
All About Owls:
There are over 200 species of owls and they are found on every continent except Antarctica. They live in a wide variety of habitats including deserts, prairies, forests, and even the arctic tundra.
Owls are one of only a few types of birds that are nocturnal, meaning they are primarily active at night. They have several adaptations that make them especially stealthy night hunters. Owls have large eyes and an excellent sense of hearing for honing in on prey. They also have long wings with soft fringed feathers called flutes. Flutes reduce the sound of the air flowing over the owls wings, allowing them to fly almost silently. Owls eat insects and other invertebrates, amphibians, fish, and small mammals.
My kids got the opportunity to digest owl pellets earlier this year with our homeschool gardening group and then again more recently when my 9 year old found a couple under a tree in our neighborhood. If you carefully pick through a pellet (definitely wear gloves if you try this) you can find the bones belonging to whatever the owl's last meal was. Our most recent dissection produced an entire tiny bird skull!
For more information about dissecting owl pellets, check out this site: The International Owl Center- Owl Pellets
To order owl pellets to dissect, check out: Oregon Owl Pellets.
Owl Craft:
For this craft you will need:
-a toilet paper roll
-construction paper
-markers
-glue
-craft eyes (optional)
Fold the top of the toilet paper roll down in the center on one end to make your "owl ears".
Cut oval wing shapes from construction paper and glue them to the sides of your toilet paper roll.
Cut out a beak and use the markers to make other details. Make eyes with markers, construction paper, or use craft eyes.
Resources for Learning About Owls:
-Experiment! How Do Owls Fly So Silently this is such a cool video from BBC Earth about how owls fly so quietly.
-Who Knew! Amazing Owl Facts from SciShow Kids
-Great Horned Owl on the Hunt from NatGeoWild
-All About Owls for Kids from FreeSchool
-What Are Owl Pellets? from SciShow Kids
If you enjoyed this post, check out the other posts in my Learning About Birds series and my All About Birds printable unit study.
There are over 200 species of owls and they are found on every continent except Antarctica. They live in a wide variety of habitats including deserts, prairies, forests, and even the arctic tundra.
Owls are one of only a few types of birds that are nocturnal, meaning they are primarily active at night. They have several adaptations that make them especially stealthy night hunters. Owls have large eyes and an excellent sense of hearing for honing in on prey. They also have long wings with soft fringed feathers called flutes. Flutes reduce the sound of the air flowing over the owls wings, allowing them to fly almost silently. Owls eat insects and other invertebrates, amphibians, fish, and small mammals.
While owls are stealthy hunters, they are not master nest builders. Most owls do not build their own nests, instead they use abandoned nests built by other birds, or they nest in natural hollows in trees. Owls can lay anywhere between 1 and 14 eggs per clutch, depending on the species and how much food is available. Females incubate their eggs for 3-5 weeks before they hatch. Nestlings leave the nest once they have the ability to thermoregulate, which is typically 2-6 weeks after hatching, depending on the species.
Dissecting Owl Pellets:
Birds do not have teeth, so they do not have the ability to chew their food. Instead they swallow it whole or in chunks. Their mechanical digestion takes place in a special digestive organ called a gizzard. Some birds of prey, like owls, regurgitate bones, fur, and the other parts of their prey that they cannot digest in little balls called pellets.
Dissecting Owl Pellets:
Birds do not have teeth, so they do not have the ability to chew their food. Instead they swallow it whole or in chunks. Their mechanical digestion takes place in a special digestive organ called a gizzard. Some birds of prey, like owls, regurgitate bones, fur, and the other parts of their prey that they cannot digest in little balls called pellets.
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| Grab this owl digestion diagram for free in my TPT store: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Owl-Digestion-Diagram-8127733 |
My kids got the opportunity to digest owl pellets earlier this year with our homeschool gardening group and then again more recently when my 9 year old found a couple under a tree in our neighborhood. If you carefully pick through a pellet (definitely wear gloves if you try this) you can find the bones belonging to whatever the owl's last meal was. Our most recent dissection produced an entire tiny bird skull!
For more information about dissecting owl pellets, check out this site: The International Owl Center- Owl Pellets
To order owl pellets to dissect, check out: Oregon Owl Pellets.
Owl Craft:
For this craft you will need:
-a toilet paper roll
-construction paper
-markers
-glue
-craft eyes (optional)
Fold the top of the toilet paper roll down in the center on one end to make your "owl ears".
Cut oval wing shapes from construction paper and glue them to the sides of your toilet paper roll.
Cut out a beak and use the markers to make other details. Make eyes with markers, construction paper, or use craft eyes.
Resources for Learning About Owls:
-Experiment! How Do Owls Fly So Silently this is such a cool video from BBC Earth about how owls fly so quietly.
-Who Knew! Amazing Owl Facts from SciShow Kids
-Great Horned Owl on the Hunt from NatGeoWild
-All About Owls for Kids from FreeSchool
-What Are Owl Pellets? from SciShow Kids
If you enjoyed this post, check out the other posts in my Learning About Birds series and my All About Birds printable unit study.
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