Owl Puke You Can Buy
I won’t use the word “puke” here often. I do promise. However, this product intrigues me so much I had to post about it for kid’s day.
Available from kidsgardening.org, Owl Puke is a book that comes with a real, vomited, but heat-sterilized owl pellet. This sanitary pellet contains the skeleton of one owl meal, such as a small bird or mouse. The book, intended to help teach kids about the food web, also includes a bone-sorting tray and chart to aid in identifying the contents of the owl pellet. Additional pellets may also be purchased.
The Gardening with Kids Store, from the National Gardening Association, describes Owl Puke as an “irresistible combination of hands-on science and yuck.”
Please note: Owls regurgitate indigestible portions of their meals twice a day, so the makers of this book aren’t going around forcing owls to vomit!
Also, Owl Puke covers many other facets of owl life besides vomiting. Kids can learn about owl habitats, hearing and vision, and many other owl tidbits. With the threatened status of some owls, teaching kids to better appreciate this mysterious creature can be a good environmental lesson.
Tags: kids, owls, pellet, puke
4 opinions for Owl Puke You Can Buy
Julie
Feb 2, 2008 at 11:57 am
Years ago, my daughter and I would look for owl puke. Sounds gross, but we liked to keep up with how many owls there were around our farm.
We had 88 acres that were full of owl friendly habitat and one year we had so many along the creek that wrapped our property, it was hard to go to sleep! Mating season was just so loud. My friends and family would sit up with the weirdest looks one their faces when the owls would begin their screeching.
Peggy
Feb 2, 2008 at 1:41 pm
Julie,
Sounds like you provided a great owl habitat in your 88 acres! I tried to picture people gathering owl puke for this book . . . Sounds like it isn’t such a strange thing after all ; )
I remember hearing owls some when I was growing up, but I rarely saw them. I’ve really been wanting to see an owl lately!
Jennifer
Feb 2, 2008 at 5:45 pm
Yikes, this is a bit gross. I bet my son would love it though. Considering he loves talking about old dinosaur poop - this seems his style. But yuck. I guess it’s better than spider puke.
Peggy
Feb 2, 2008 at 6:20 pm
Jennifer,
Actually, just after I posted this last night I saw a large spider crawl on my wall behind the monitor. Knowing your love for them, I thought of you.
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