WHO LIVED IN A NEST LIKE THIS?

[SCOMAN]

Some big trees have gone down locally with the storms over the year. One big beech fell and exposed what I take to be a nest. Anyone have any idea what would have lived in it. I don't know if the black bits were owl pellets??

 

[SoldierPalmer]

My first guess would be a Tawny Owl

 

[Mesquite]

The black bits look like alfred cakes and yup, an owl would be the best guess as to the owner of the nest

 

[SCOMAN]

The black bits look like alfred cakes and yup, an owl would be the best guess as to the owner of the nest

I wasn’t too sure whether they were pellets or fungus. Cheers guys.

 

[Robson Valley]

We have many species of owls here and mice are a very common prey item. The pellets coughed up by these owls are spit on the ground outside the nest. They are clearly a mix of bones and essential prey fur. I don't see that.

Is it possible that those pellets are from an occupant who was not the original nest builder?

 

[SCOMAN]

I think it could be the fungus that was growing inside the hollow part of the tree

 

[JonathanD]

It’s more than likely a pigeon nest. No fecal matter and prey mess/pellets for it to be a raptor or owl, which they leave in masses. Those brown bits are just fungal pieces. You can see them growing up the inside of the tree in that picture. Definitely not pellets of any kind. I’d say it hasn’t been used though.

 

[Toddy]

We get a lot of woodpeckers around here, they too nest in hollow trees. They seem to prefer tight narrow opening up cracks as the entrance though.
Could you work out from the bits what kind of shape the original entrance was ?

 

[SCOMAN]

No I did try but there were bits all over and I couldn’t determine how much it twisted when it fell.

 

[FerlasDave]

I’ll second pigeon. Loosely stacked thick twigs is very characteristic of pigeon nests.