Morbid Curiosity?

  Early today, Son and I went out to cut more firewood.  This cool front has pulled the cast iron woodstoves into work mode.  To keep warm, the stoves need to be constantly stoked causing me to use a good bit of firewood.  Today's chore completed two tasks at the same time.  A good many trees in the yard needed trimming and we needed to find wood to cut.  Trimming the limbs gave us a good bit of firewood!  Two for one!   He would cut the limbs and I would drag them near the house to be cut into the right size.  We have found this to be easier than hauling the already cut firewood.  We were about finished for the day when I noticed something strange on the ground under a tall oak tree.  The "item" looked like feathers but not as those from a live bird.  I poked at it then discovered a beak.  Oops...that WAS a bird...at one time.  Now it was a pile of icky feathers, a few bones and the beak.  Well, now.  This discovery led to a lengthy discussion about what this was and how it got here.

  After a good bit of poking the goop, we have come to the conclusion that this is an owl pellet.  Owls gulp down small prey without ripping it apart.  Their bodies cannot digest feathers, some bones and, of course, the beak of a bird.  The enzymes in an owl's digestive track are not strong enough to break down these items so they are stored in the bird's gizzard until it is full.  Then, the bird will regurgitate the parts in a semi-solid form.  The "pellets" are usually around 2 to 3 inches long (sometimes larger) but, of course, this depends on the type and size of the owl, itself.  The one today seemed much larger but, then, I have been hearing so really large owls, as of late.

  I was now curious as to what type bird was eaten.  With the shape of the beak, the bird can at least be narrowed a bit and with the feathers being quite unidentifiable, the beak is about all I have to use.  The size of the bird would be rather small, the beak is "dagger-like" and the feather colors seem to be beige and (?)white.  This eliminated a good many birds of this area and this is assuming that the bird was not a migratory bird.  After doing a bit of research, I would offhandedly say this may be one of the sandpipers that have a tendency to roost on the pier at night.  It makes sense that they would be an easy target for a hungry owl.  Keep in mind that this is amateur sleuth work and by no means a sure thing.  If anyone can help me out here, please chime in and give your two cents' worth!  It would be greatly appreciated!  Call it morbid curiosity or whatever you wish but I really like to make new discoveries like this.  It helps me to learn more about my critter friends...all of them...the predators and the prey.