Owls have a unique digestive system with several special features:

• Owls lack a crop, which is a storage sac in the throat found in many other birds. This means owls pass food directly into their stomach and must digest it immediately rather than storing it for later

• Their stomach has two parts: the glandular stomach (proventriculus), where enzymes and acids begin digestion, and the muscular stomach (ventriculus or gizzard), which grinds food and acts as a filter to hold back indigestible parts like bones, fur, teeth, and feathers

• Owls swallow prey whole or in large pieces and cannot digest hard materials such as bones, fur, teeth, and feathers. These indigestible parts are compacted into a pellet in the gizzard

• The pellet travels back up to the proventriculus and remains there for up to 10 hours before the owl regurgitates it. This pellet partially blocks the digestive tract, preventing the owl from swallowing new prey until it is expelled

• Compared to other birds of prey, owls have weaker stomach acid (around pH 2), which is less acidic than in other raptors. This results in larger pellets containing more undigested material

• The pellet cycle is regular, and regurgitation often occurs at favored roosting spots. The owl’s digestion extracts nutrients from the soft parts of the prey, while the indigestible remains are ejected as pellets

In summary, what is special about an owl’s digestion is the absence of a crop, the two-part stomach that separates digestible and indigestible parts, the formation and regurgitation of large pellets containing undigested materials, and the relatively weaker stomach acid compared to other birds of prey