Owl pellets

Now this may not tickle your fancy, but having dropped science in high school, I am happy to be able to do Citizen Science. It really restricted my options, sadly. 

 I had a mystery. Our Barred Owl left me several pellets under the base of the owl tree. These happen when owl poops white mute out the rear end, and vomits up the bones, shells, and fur of undigestible parts. It has a pungent odor, once dry, less so. 

I laid them out on a large ceramic coaster! Using my large tweezers, I removed the furry bits.

I took out my zoom lens for the iPhone. The focus distance is 2.5 cm, and it is tricky with eye issues. 

Using the zoom lens on the iPhone, the first time, not bad.

Most of these bones are from Meadow Voles, AKA field mice. They are ubiquitous. 

First, let me show you a toe biter I caught during frog moving season. This was a major clue. If you look in the photos above, you can the the exoskeleton of the digested bug. 

Unsatisfied with my first images, I tried placing the wee bones on a piece of fake velvet.

That was better.