Owls

Yesterday we had visitors from the RSPB in our class.  They were telling us about how owls survive in Orkney.  We learned that owls are birds of prey and they have sharp talons and a sharp beak to help them catch and tear into their prey.  They eat small birds, mice and shrews but their main source of food in Orkney is the Orkney vole.  Owls can't digest the bones and fur of their prey so it is regurgitated.  This ball of fur and bones is called an owl pellet.  In small groups we worked with cocktail sticks and tweezers to pull the fur apart and see if we could find any vole bones.  We had to put the  bones onto a picture of a skeleton.  It was very interesting and we couldn't believe how many bones we found!