Jawbones. On iNaturalist, someone thinks these are Brown Rat. The coin is an inch in diameter.
Same coin, different jaw. I pulled out the incisor: rodent teeth keep growing.
6mm long claws extracted from a pellet. Owls swallow everything. I’ve seen our local American Kestrels choked down the entire legs of their bird prey, talons last. You don’t want these sharps heading though the cloaca, evidently (I certainly wouldn’t), so up them come in packets of undigestible parts.
Bits and Pieces
Published January 30, 2020 Fieldnotes 5 CommentsTags: Brooklyn, Green-Wood, mammals
Backyard and Beyond 
Size might not be a determining factor in ID – rats do get larger as they mature. And male brown rats are noticeably bigger than females.
That’s one impressive tooth!
True! (On all three counts).
I’ve never thought of this before, but I wonder if the growing rodent tooth — it would only be the incisors, wouldn’t it? — isn’t really a tooth but more like a horn coming out of their mouths. Our teeth don’t grow (do they?). The animal’s other teeth don’t grow. So is it the same substance/source as a tooth? (I see my dentist next week. I hope I remember to ask.)
Good questions to distract the dentist!