Bird from pellets (1 Viewer)

[01101001]

Warsaw, 12 Feb 2022 (last year)

Nearby species that could (potentially) be able to regurgitate pellets of this size (assuming these are pellets indeed): Goshawk, Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, Great Cormorant, Grey Heron, Raven, Hooded Crow, Rook, one of the bigger gulls, Long-eared Owl, Barn Owl, (?), ...

The lumps were soft on the light greyish side and hard on the darker top side (dried by the sun?). My estimate was that they measured from 10 to 15 cm. They were all found next to one another, arranged in a row of sorts.

This was in a small pine and birch forest with meadows around and a small river and some housing nearby, so I'd say it was probably either an owl (Long-eared Owl?), a diurnal raptor (Goshawk?, Buzzard?) or a Raven--something roosting there rather than just flying past and throwing up all three pellets at once.

 

[Butty]

They look odd. You need to pull them apart.

 

[Alexander Stöhr]

Hello,

I am far from an expert, but it mostly resembles a Heron pellet.

But better wait for confirmation or correction. Thanks from me too!

 

[01101001]

They look odd. You need to pull them apart.

It was last year, but I tried to gauge the texture using a stick, and they seemed to be uniform, sleazy, light greyish inside when I poked them with it.

EDIT: Truth be said, they seem to be quite big for most of the birds I mentioned, so a Grey Heron looks like a good bet.

EDIT 2:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259972109_Nocturnal_predation_by_the_Grey_Heron_Ardea_cinerea_on_the_European_Storm-petrel_Hydrobates_pelagicus/figures?lo=1

 

[Butty]

they seemed to be uniform, sleazy, light greyish inside

Sounds more like 💩 than pellets.

 

[Alexander Stöhr]

Here is a picture from a Grey Heron pellet for comparison:

https://www.brodowski-fotografie.de/bilder/gewoelle/gewoelle_reiher1.jpg

from Gewölle - Eulen Gewölle bestimmen, untersuchen und Bilder

 

[01101001]

Sounds more like 💩 than pellet

Sounds like it makes sense, though I can't imagine an animal big enough to be responsible for it (not human, dog, cat, roe deer, wild boar, fox, mustelid, beaver, elk or hare, and most? other mammals excrete droppings, not this).

EDIT: Also, this was light grey not brown (so not a herbivore?), and still wet and fresh on the underside, not crumby like the example in https://www.brodowski-fotografie.de/bilder/gewoelle/gewoelle_reiher1.jpg (though there's another one less decomposed than that: https://www.brodowski-fotografie.de/bilder/gewoelle/gewoelle_reiher2.jpg).