[mou] Barred Owl "owl ball"

[Thomas Maiello]

My friendly neighborhood Barred Owl dropped an owl ball yesterday and  
I was eager to check it out.  I used to study Great Horned Owls'  
roosts at the mouth of a Mexican Freetail Bat colony cave in western  
Oklahoma which included a study of their prolific rendering of owl  
balls.  From the GHOs I could unfold complete bat skeletons and other  
small mammals so I was excited about what the Barred Owl ball would  
reveal.  I was quite surprised to find no evident animal parts at all  
- only what looked like plant matter similar to lichens and mosses  
throughout.  When I researched about their diets there was no mention  
of vegetative ingestion.  I expected partial bone fragments and hair.   
Not really earth shaking but interesting none-the-less.

No Maple Grove Barred Owl today, but a long stationary sit yesterday  
and the opportunity to meet two dedicated photographers.  Thanks for  
sharing this experience with me.

Thomas Maiello
Angel Environmental Management, Inc.
Maple Grove, MN