>
>
> Unequivocal? Any details? Isn't it possible the shellfish are part of a
>grebe's or duck's diet and end up in pellets via that route?
> Somehow I can't imagine a Snowy Owl directly "taking" a razor clam.
>
>

Oh, come on. Any tourist can buy a clam shovel and a license here at Corkey's
for under $20.00 (American).

More seriously, we human types need to be very careful about limiting the
wildlife around us to what we can imagine. I was told unequivocally once
that Peregrins never take carrion even though I have a photograph of one
sitting on a seriously dead Western Grebe.

I have the stomach contents of a Western Screech Owl... Helgremites...
found only on the undersides of rocks in fairly rapid streams.

I watched a Northern Shrike attack and nearly subdue a Pectoral Sandpiper.

I can think of several ways (including eating a grebe) that could get a razor
clam into a Snowy Owl.


--
*********************************** I got the blues so bad one time
* Mike Patterson, Astoria, OR * it put my face in a permanent frown
* mpatters at orednet.org * but I am feelin' so much better
*http://www.pacifier.com/~mpatters* I could cake-walk into town