Diet composition of syntopically breeding falcon species Falco vespertinus and Falco tinnunculus in south-western Slovakia
Abstract The red-footed falcon and Eurasian falcon represent two syntopical falcon species. While the Eurasian falcon is considered a common and numerous species in Slovakia, the red-footed falcon population has undergone a considerable decline during the past few decades. Nowadays it nests in a sin...
Published in: | Slovak Raptor Journal |
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Walter de Gruyter GmbH
2017
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crdegruyter:10.1515/srj-2017-0006 2024-05-19T07:39:07+00:00 Diet composition of syntopically breeding falcon species Falco vespertinus and Falco tinnunculus in south-western Slovakia Tulis, Filip Slobodník, Roman Langraf, Vladimír Noga, Michal Krumpálová, Zuzana Šustek, Zbyšek Krištín, Anton 2017 http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/srj-2017-0006 http://content.sciendo.com/view/journals/srj/11/1/article-p15.xml http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/srj.2017.11.issue-1/srj-2017-0006/srj-2017-0006.pdf unknown Walter de Gruyter GmbH http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0 Slovak Raptor Journal volume 11, issue 1, page 15-30 ISSN 1338-7227 journal-article 2017 crdegruyter https://doi.org/10.1515/srj-2017-0006 2024-05-02T06:52:01Z Abstract The red-footed falcon and Eurasian falcon represent two syntopical falcon species. While the Eurasian falcon is considered a common and numerous species in Slovakia, the red-footed falcon population has undergone a considerable decline during the past few decades. Nowadays it nests in a single locality in Slovakia, the Sysľovské polia Special Protection Area, which forms the northern and fragmented border of the species distribution area in Europe. By analysing prey remains from 9 nests (from 1998, 2001, 2013, 2014 and 2016), we identified 433 prey items belonging to 35 taxa and 9 orders. Every year, invertebrates made up the major part of the diet spectrum, in which Calosoma auropunctatum, Tettigonia viridissima, Zabrus tenebrioides, Anisoplia aegetum and Rhizotrogus sp. were the most frequent species of prey. Of the vertebrates, Microtus arvalis was the most hunted prey species. By supplementary analysis of 21 photos, we extended our knowledge on the diet by other 6 taxa. The peak of the M. arvalis population growth in 2014 did not manifest itself in the red-footed falcon diet composition. In 1998, 2014 and 2016 we also studied the diet of a syntopical species, the Eurasian kestrel. By analysing prey remains in 22 nests, we identified 1,151 prey items belonging to 37 taxa and 7 orders. In 1998 and 2014 vertebrates predominated, especially the common vole, however in 2016 invertebrates prevailed. This fact could be a reaction to the M. arvalis population peak in 2014 and its decline in 2016. These results suggest that this variability in the foraging behaviour of the Eurasian kestrel, an opportunistic predator, during the hunting of invertebrates increases the diet similarity and overlapping of the food niche of both studied falcon species. Article in Journal/Newspaper Common vole Microtus arvalis De Gruyter Slovak Raptor Journal 11 1 15 30 |
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De Gruyter |
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Abstract The red-footed falcon and Eurasian falcon represent two syntopical falcon species. While the Eurasian falcon is considered a common and numerous species in Slovakia, the red-footed falcon population has undergone a considerable decline during the past few decades. Nowadays it nests in a single locality in Slovakia, the Sysľovské polia Special Protection Area, which forms the northern and fragmented border of the species distribution area in Europe. By analysing prey remains from 9 nests (from 1998, 2001, 2013, 2014 and 2016), we identified 433 prey items belonging to 35 taxa and 9 orders. Every year, invertebrates made up the major part of the diet spectrum, in which Calosoma auropunctatum, Tettigonia viridissima, Zabrus tenebrioides, Anisoplia aegetum and Rhizotrogus sp. were the most frequent species of prey. Of the vertebrates, Microtus arvalis was the most hunted prey species. By supplementary analysis of 21 photos, we extended our knowledge on the diet by other 6 taxa. The peak of the M. arvalis population growth in 2014 did not manifest itself in the red-footed falcon diet composition. In 1998, 2014 and 2016 we also studied the diet of a syntopical species, the Eurasian kestrel. By analysing prey remains in 22 nests, we identified 1,151 prey items belonging to 37 taxa and 7 orders. In 1998 and 2014 vertebrates predominated, especially the common vole, however in 2016 invertebrates prevailed. This fact could be a reaction to the M. arvalis population peak in 2014 and its decline in 2016. These results suggest that this variability in the foraging behaviour of the Eurasian kestrel, an opportunistic predator, during the hunting of invertebrates increases the diet similarity and overlapping of the food niche of both studied falcon species. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Tulis, Filip Slobodník, Roman Langraf, Vladimír Noga, Michal Krumpálová, Zuzana Šustek, Zbyšek Krištín, Anton |
spellingShingle |
Tulis, Filip Slobodník, Roman Langraf, Vladimír Noga, Michal Krumpálová, Zuzana Šustek, Zbyšek Krištín, Anton Diet composition of syntopically breeding falcon species Falco vespertinus and Falco tinnunculus in south-western Slovakia |
author_facet |
Tulis, Filip Slobodník, Roman Langraf, Vladimír Noga, Michal Krumpálová, Zuzana Šustek, Zbyšek Krištín, Anton |
author_sort |
Tulis, Filip |
title |
Diet composition of syntopically breeding falcon species Falco vespertinus and Falco tinnunculus in south-western Slovakia |
title_short |
Diet composition of syntopically breeding falcon species Falco vespertinus and Falco tinnunculus in south-western Slovakia |
title_full |
Diet composition of syntopically breeding falcon species Falco vespertinus and Falco tinnunculus in south-western Slovakia |
title_fullStr |
Diet composition of syntopically breeding falcon species Falco vespertinus and Falco tinnunculus in south-western Slovakia |
title_full_unstemmed |
Diet composition of syntopically breeding falcon species Falco vespertinus and Falco tinnunculus in south-western Slovakia |
title_sort |
diet composition of syntopically breeding falcon species falco vespertinus and falco tinnunculus in south-western slovakia |
publisher |
Walter de Gruyter GmbH |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/srj-2017-0006 http://content.sciendo.com/view/journals/srj/11/1/article-p15.xml http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/srj.2017.11.issue-1/srj-2017-0006/srj-2017-0006.pdf |
genre |
Common vole Microtus arvalis |
genre_facet |
Common vole Microtus arvalis |
op_source |
Slovak Raptor Journal volume 11, issue 1, page 15-30 ISSN 1338-7227 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1515/srj-2017-0006 |
container_title |
Slovak Raptor Journal |
container_volume |
11 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
15 |
op_container_end_page |
30 |
_version_ |
1799478635098275840 |