Do owls eat cherries? (1 Viewer)

[woodblock]

We have a small holding in Shropshire. We occasionally find what I'm pretty sure are owl pellets on top of gate posts. They seem to prefer some posts over others. This morning I went out and found what looked like an owl pellet on the usual post but it had fruit stones in it along with the usual stuff. What they usually look like is a lot of dry looking fibrous stuff loosely pressed into a small sausage shape. But this one was partly broken up and there were small fruit stones in it. The stones came from cherries on some big wild cherry trees we have in one hedge line. The cherries are just beginning to change colour and ripen. We have noticed in previous years that the cherries disappear quite quickly once they start to ripen and we usually put this down to birds but not owls.. The trees are a few hundred yards from the gate post.
Cheers
Steve

 

[Richard Prior]

Hi Steve,
I wonder if it’s not Pine Marten that’s responsible, did you take a photo?

 

[delia todd]

Hi Steve and a warm welcome to you from all the Staff and Moderators. That's a really interesting question, and Steve has a just as interesting theory too. I hope you find out for sure.

A beautiful county you come from.

I'm sure you will enjoy it here and I look forward to hearing your news.

 

[Kits]

Welcome to Birdforum. I hope you enjoy your visits and can resolve your mystery.

 

[woodblock]

Thanks everyone. Here are a few pictures of the owl pellet. It's broken up a bit because of all the cherry stones. It turned out there was another smaller pellet on one of the rails below the top. The black bits you can see look like bits of beetle and in fact if you look at the top right hand of the first picture you can see what looks like part of a beetle leg.

 

[Richard Prior]

Thanks Steve, we have some real experts
(unlike me!) on Birdforum who will recognise this, I am now wondering whether Jays swallow cherries whole and throw up pellets, do you have Jay around your place?

 

[jurek]

It looks like a pellet of a gull, or less likely a crow or a magpie - from my animal tracks book. Any of these around?

 

[woodblock]

Probably a crow or magpie then. We have lots of those. Gull is unlikely since we are far from the sea although we do see them occasionally.

 

[LOC04]

Not sure but looks like magpie.

 

[woodblock]

Thanks for your replies and I've learned something because I didn't know that Crows and Magpies also produce pellets like these.