Nocturnal antics

Life is full of surprises. We didn't set out to dissect owl pellets with our bare hands today, but somehow that's what we found ourselves doing.

The sun was shining, so the Man, the Girl and I had gone down to Five Rivers for a little hike. We managed the hike, though it was more of a squelch-and-slide. The snow has been alternately melting and refreezing, so where the ground wasn't boggy it was lethally icey.

When we got to the visitor centre we found we were just in time for the start of a talk on nocturnal creatures. We learnt about the habits of racoons and flying squirrels and owls, and in particular how owls eat their prey. They grind them up in their crop, swallow what they can digest and cough up the remaining bones, fur or feathers in a pellet. At this point the instructor presented us all with owl pellets, individually wrapped in silver foil like rather unappetising Easter eggs.

I found the remains of some sort of rodent in mine. The Girl picked through hers with gusto and identified a vole. She has brought another pellet home to examine later in her basement science lab.

The Boy, meanwhile, had been out all afternoon with his buddy, playing mini-golf and rollerskating. The buddy has ended up at our house for a sleepover, and the Girl also has a friend to stay tonight, so I'll leave you to imagine just how restful that scenario is turning out to be.