The 7th grade students in Mrs. Kirchhoff’s middle school science class learned about barn owls and their habitat as part of a unit on ecosystems in late April and early May. The project included dissecting owl pellets and identifying their contents, which included the skeletal remains of birds, voles, and moles.

“The students learned that God has provided the barn owl with a unique eating process that protects them from harm when they eat their prey,” Kirchhoff said. She explained that after an owl eats a bird or small rodent it spits out the fur and bones, which its body would not be able to digest. The expelled fur and bones form into an egg-shaped pellet about 2-4 inches in length.

The students began the 3-week, in-class project by creating a trophic pyramid, completing a raptor food web, and learning about the barn owl’s diet. Each student completed a barn owl anatomy activity, dissected an owl pellet, and organized skeletal data.

“During the dissection process, the students found all the bones for a vole and were able to glue the parts back together to make a vole skeleton,” Kirchhoff said. “This was a very interesting project and at first, some students were a little squeamish, but then they really got excited as they found various skeletal remains and were able to put a whole vole skeleton together.”