Magic Hedge Bird watching

Each year I start this unit by dissecting owl pellets with the 7th grade students during science class. Approximately 100 students will be dissecting these pellets. What better way to learn about their own skeletons than to compare their own skeletal structure to another animal's skeleton? My students become actively engaged with a hands on approach to science, and this activity is the perfect hands on approach to learning about skeletal structures and the food chain of a predator.
With such little time in the school year and so many activities to choose from, I try to find activities that can cover large parts of the science curriculum. This activity teaches students about food chains, skeletal structure, herbivores, carnivores and a whole array of other biological concepts. My students usually do this activity in the fall because we take a field trip to the "Magic Hedge" and do some bird watching and hiking as a culminating activity. It would be wonderful if we had cameras so that we could document our findings and sightings of birds. These findings would then stay with the students for life.
The 7th grade science curriculum is heavily concentrated in biology and this activity covers many of the main concepts that my students will be studying. I already have the tools and handouts from purchasing owl pellet kits in the past so all that we need now are cameras so that we can document our trip. They could then use their film at our learning celebration at the end of the quarter to share their experiences. The students get a lot out of speaking and sharing their findings with other students. Your help with being able to video our trip will ensure that my students have an experience that they will remember for years to come. When students learn by "doing" they remember what they have learned and are able to apply their findings to many other areas in their lives.