Regurgitated remains

[shirl]

Any ideas what sort of animal might regurgitate something like this? Found on our grass yesterday morning, made up of bone fragments and very coarse grey hair.

Shirl

[nightshade]

I would start with a Buzzard, Gulls from a resevoir or if you were really lucky an Eagle Owl. That should start the ball rolling

[djackso]

I can only eliminate (???) various species of crow:

The absence of small stones and plant material suggests it is not a member of the crow family.

What sort of habitat surrounds your garden? Woods, lake, river, fields?

[Jason Green]

I'd personally guess a BoP.

[mh68]

It looks very loose to be a pellet. Had it not contained the bone fragments i`d have said a cat furball ( is it possible for a furball to contain fragments like this???).The large-ish bone fragments rule out Buzzard - usually these have very little bone content.As Djackso says, the lack of small stones rules out a Corvid.

Can you give us an idea of the size Shirl?

Mark H

[djackso]

I've got my "tracks and signs" book out. Apparently the digestive juices of birds of prey can DISSOLVE BONE

Well I never!

At best, there may be a few half digested pieces, but often they are completely gone.

So not a typical b.o.p. pellet then.

[mh68]

Originally Posted by djackso

I've got my "tracks and signs" book out. Apparently the digestive juices of birds of prey can DISSOLVE BONE

Well I never!

At best, there may be a few half digested pieces, but often they are completely gone.

So not a typical b.o.p. pellet then.

Birds of prey also tear their food into pieces while feeding to avoid ingesting large bones,as opposed to the likes of Owls which swallow most prey whole.

Mark H

[shirl]

The whole thing was about 4 inches long, the pic shows it as I found it, already looking as though it had been pulled apart. The garden is in the Derbyshire Dales, we live on a limestone hillside with a sandstone outcrop above us, loads of dry stone walls, trees and fields and a limestone quarry about 1/4 mile away. We do see quite a few raptors (usually buzzards and kestrels) and are close to Carsington Water so we do get seabirds flying over.

Shirl

[Tracey.A]

Are there any trees, posts or fences in this area? Were the remains of this pulled apart when you found it? If not how big was it? Don't know if this is a cat's furball or an owl pellet? Unlikely to be any of the other birds of prey as unlike owls their digestive juices are able to digest most of the bones. Not crows either, although you do find bone remains in their pellets, but as Djackso pointed out there are no stones present in the pellet. I don't know what a cats furball looks like, although I did try and google, but didn't find anything. Sort of remember someone having a picture of a furball on this site, not sure if it was Vole woman?

Tracey

[Tracey.A]

Originally Posted by djackso

I've got my "tracks and signs" book out. Apparently the digestive juices of birds of prey can DISSOLVE BONE

Well I never!

At best, there may be a few half digested pieces, but often they are completely gone.

So not a typical b.o.p. pellet then.

Looks like we have the same book Djackso. It's a good one