Powerful Owl

[David McDonald <>]

I do not claim any professional expertise on such matters, but a google
search reveals this at the Audobon Magazine site

 http://audubonmagazine.org/birds/birds0203.html :

Take the strange adaptive changes that occur in the innards of the black-billed cuckoo, a voracious consumer of forest caterpillars. "Stomach contents of individual cuckoos may contain more than 100 large caterpillars or several hundred of the smaller species," writes Janice M. Hughes of Ontario's Lakehead University in her account of the species. "The bristly spines of hairy caterpillars pierce the cuckoo's stomach lining, giving it a furry coating. When the mass obstructs digestion, the entire stomach lining is sloughed off and is regurgitated as a pellet."

It is also mentioned, again not wrt owls, in a 1906 issue of The
Auk.

Perhaps we'll hear more from our owl experts about this? Perhaps it is
perfectly normal for a Powerful Owl to eject part of its stomach lining
in the pellets, once the lining becomes worn or torn by the rough stuff
in the stomach?

David

At 17:17 17/06/2007, you wrote:
> I went to the ANBG again this
> afternoon see the owl with Frank Antram who was in England when the bird
> was last seen. 
>  
> I arrived at the site a little earlier than Frank and saw Stuart Harris
> in conversation with a ranger. I felt very uncomfortable when confronted
> by this extremely officious person who let it be known to Stuart Harris
> and I that she wished people would go away and leave the owl alone. When
> Stuart explained that if the owl was concerned by the presence of humans
> it was unlikely to return to the same roost site day after day, she
> informed us that the owl was dying. Her explanation for this was that
> pellets  had been examined and  found to contain stomach lining
> and in her words it was ?shitting it?s stomach up?. I didn?t bother to
> explain that pellets are regurgitated. ..but is anyone able to confirm or
> deny this story.
>  
> Cheers
> Alastair 
>  
> From: Stephen Martin
>  
> Sent: Sunday, 17 June 2007 1:29 PM
> To: 
> Subject: [canberrabirds] Powerful Owl
>  
> The Powerful Owl was back roosting in its usual Paperbark tree at the
> ANBG this morning.
>  
> Stephen Martin