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