What makes up an owl pellet? feathers from the owl preening, or cleaning, itself pieces of food that the owl did not like pieces of food that could not be broken down by the owl’s stomach

An owl pellet is primarily composed of the parts of an owl's food that could not be digested or broken down by the owl's stomach. Owls are birds of prey, and they often eat their food whole, swallowing small prey entirely and tearing larger prey into chunks. The indigestible parts of their food, such as the bones, fur, teeth, feathers, and insect exoskeletons, are too tough to be broken down by the owl's stomach acids and grinding muscle action (known as gizzard in birds).

Rather than passing these indigestible parts through their digestive tract, owls form them into a pellet within a part of their stomach called the gizzard. The owl then regurgitates these pellets, which is a much less harmful process than passing sharp bones and other hard materials through their intestines. It's important to note that these pellets are not made up of food that the owl did not like; rather, they only include the material that could not be digested. Owl pellets do not contain feathers from the owl preening or cleaning itself; any feathers in the pellet are from the prey they consumed.