Gayleen from the Calgary Wildlife Rehabilitation Society gave an interesting presentation on their Society's efforts to care for injured and orphaned animals. Lots of different animals were highlighted, from eagles to skunks. After a slide show we were introduced to one of their educators:

Ophelia, the owl educator

Ophelia, a great horned owl, has a wing injury that didn't heal well so she can't be returned to the wild. She ably demonstrated an owl's ability to rotate their neck through 270 degrees. After some demos of owl talons and wing structure comparisons there was an opportunity to dissect owl pellets:


Owl pellets, on a chart of mouse skeleton

Gayleen, on right, supervises Ramblers examining owl pellets

The pellets are the non-digestible parts of prey that the owl regurgitates. Our sanitized samples turned out to be voles, with a bundling of fur, skull and other bones. The bones of the voles are teeny! Thanks to Gayleen for giving the presentation.

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