Saturday, November 14, 2009

Virtual Owl Pellets

Do you remember when we did our owl pellet dissection? Very cool, but pretty messy and some would even say gross. Not everyone is willing or able to do a hands-on owl pellet dissection.

But how about a virtual dissection? If you have a computer and internet access, you can do this easily. And you may just learn something AND have fun.

The website is Kids Wings. Awesome awesome place!

What can you do at Kids Wings?
  • Learn about owl pellets and complete a Virtual owl pellet dissection - click HERE
  • Be sure to stay with it until the very end (all those little bones can be tedious!) for a top-notch animation!
  • When you are on that page, be sure to click "MORE PELLETS" at the very top. (Although don't miss the main attraction - the virtual dissection.) You'll get a drop-down menu of ELEVEN different pellets you can dissect online.
  • One is the Barred Owl's pellet. You will get photos of REAL pellets being dissected as you work. Only NO MESS for you, just coolness!
  • Be sure to check out the Teacher Resources, like downloadable charts, owl pellet dissection video to download, Birdwatching Bingo game, and more more more!
But that's not all! You can learn about
  • bird skulls
  • bird nests
  • feathers
  • bird calls
  • and more!
If you found Kids Wings to be a useful site, you can consider a donation to the author. There is a paypal donation link on the home page. I know hosting a website costs a lot, especially one as cool as this one, so show her your appreciation for making it available at no charge.

And from their site, I linked to Owl Brand Dissection Kits. You can get 10% off with a code you will find on that page. But here also is a cool page of freebie coloring sheets and activity pages at Owl Brand. More awesomeness!

But I'm not done yet! From Owl Brand, I linked to this very clear and helpful guide to owl pellet dissection. Much information on where to find pellets, how to identify the owl that made the pellet, safety tips, dissection information, and bone diagrams so you can identify the remains you salvage.

Lots more resources on Owl Brand's RESOURCE page. I ran out of time and couldn't go through it all, but you'll find lots of cool things.

1 comment:

Debra LeeBerry said...

What a neat site. I wish I would have known about it last autumn when we were learning about owls. The little guys I babysit for love owls so we may be doing another study. They will enjoy some of this information. Thanks!