She Should Know

Elyse and her Aunt Diane.

This is my seven year old granddaughter, Elyse. She stayed over

night with her grandpa and me this past weekend.

Sunday morning Elyse went to the machine shed to see what her grandpa

was working on. As she entered the building, she told him that the building smelled

like owl puke. "How would you know that?" her grandpa asked.

Owl Pellet  (Photo courtesy of KidWings.com)

Elyse explained that at school she and the other kids in her class had seen owl

pellets (puke)—and that they had even touched the bones and skin that they were made of. 

Who would have thought?

Kids truly do say the darndest things but I've come to realize that much

of what they say is based on experience and it comes from a reservoir

of information shaped by sight and sound.

(I think there's a lesson to be realized here.)

Elyse loves to read.

On behalf of Elyse, here are a few facts about owls and owl pellets (courtesy of KidWings.com):
Owls, like many other birds, eat their food whole. Since birds do not have teeth, they can't chew their food. Therefore, they use their strong and sharp beaks to rip their prey apart and then swallow large chunks whole. The owl slowly digests its meal by separating the softer materials (such as meat) from the harder material (such as bones). It then regurgitates the harder material along with indigestible items such as feathers and fur in the form of a pellet.