Hootin' and Hollerin"- The Owl Pellet Song

For several years that I taught 6th grade science, we dissected owl pellets in class. As you may know, owl pellets are made up of bones and fur and other parts of an owl’s prey that it can’t digest. So, it regurgitates it (spits it out). You can tell by some of the bones what kind of small critter that it ate (mouse, shrew, etc.). The kids were always wary at first, but then really got in to it once they started dissecting them and comparing the bones to the chart they had of small animals. To go along with the lab, I wrote and recorded this song and even performed it on public tv on a science show that was broadcast in many cities all over the country as well parts of Canada. It’s about a fellow hiking through the woods and encounters an owl that doesn’t seem to like him much.