The Cub Scouts Den went on on owl prowl last night. We met at the local bird sanctuary to eat a quick dinner and then learn about the different owls that were native to the area. We learned:
- Owls are really not that smart. Their eyes take up most of their skull so their brains don't have a lot of room.
- Owls eyes are fixed and cannot move side-to-side like ours can.
- Owls heads can rotate 270 degrees. The boys had fun trying to figure out if they could do the same with their head.
- Owls can hear 1000 feet away. How were we going to see an owl tonight with 10 scouts trying to be quiet?
- Owls generally swallow their food whole. What they cannot digest like bones, teeth, etc, they throw back up. This is called an owl pellet. Yuck!
Before looking for owls, the boys got to dissect an owl pellet. Collin got a little grossed out when he saw a tooth in his so, Mommy to the rescue!, I finished dissecting it. We found an entire mouse skull in the pellet along with a few bones. Boy, do I love that kid to do that for him. He wanted to keep all of this so we put it in a bag with his name on it before we headed out to look for owls.
The boys were quiet as much as they could be. The "hunt" was 30 minutes and we had not seen an owl yet. Just as we were headed back to the cabin, we found one! He was beautiful and perched on a tree limb looking at us. Most of the boys quickly lost interest but Collin hung out with me to look at the owl and ask questions about him. We had a great time.
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| Learning about owls |
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| The boys were really attentive to what the volunteer had to say |
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| The innards of the owl pellet |
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| The mouse skull in the pellet |
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