The diet, and pellet residue taphonomy, of Barn Owls Tyto alba on a Greek island reveals an exceptional diversity of avian prey
Abstract Barn Owl Tyto alba pellets and loose bones on a cave floor from Amorgos (Cyclades, Greece) were examined and the birds found to have caught at least 39 species of bird, mostly identified from humeri, plus shrews Crocidura suaveolens , a few lizards and dung beetles, in addition to their pri...
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Language: | English |
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Walter de Gruyter GmbH
2020
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/acro-2020-0001 https://www.sciendo.com/pdf/10.2478/acro-2020-0001 |
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crdegruyter:10.2478/acro-2020-0001 2024-05-19T07:47:44+00:00 The diet, and pellet residue taphonomy, of Barn Owls Tyto alba on a Greek island reveals an exceptional diversity of avian prey Cheke, Anthony S. Hume, Julian P. 2020 http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/acro-2020-0001 https://www.sciendo.com/pdf/10.2478/acro-2020-0001 en eng Walter de Gruyter GmbH http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0 Acrocephalus volume 41, issue 184-185, page 3-24 ISSN 2199-6067 journal-article 2020 crdegruyter https://doi.org/10.2478/acro-2020-0001 2024-05-02T06:52:00Z Abstract Barn Owl Tyto alba pellets and loose bones on a cave floor from Amorgos (Cyclades, Greece) were examined and the birds found to have caught at least 39 species of bird, mostly identified from humeri, plus shrews Crocidura suaveolens , a few lizards and dung beetles, in addition to their principal diet of rodents (rats Rattus rattus , mice Apodemus spp. & Mus musculus ). Amongst the birds, migrants appeared most vulnerable to owl predation, with some notable exceptions, while resident species were under-represented. The range of bird species found appears to be the largest recorded for any Barn Owl study of a single site. Considerable differences were found in species proportions of taxa in fresh pellets and in loose bones, probably due to differential rates of degradation. Photographs of all humeri are included to aid identification in other studies. Article in Journal/Newspaper Rattus rattus De Gruyter Acrocephalus 41 184-185 3 24 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
De Gruyter |
op_collection_id |
crdegruyter |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract Barn Owl Tyto alba pellets and loose bones on a cave floor from Amorgos (Cyclades, Greece) were examined and the birds found to have caught at least 39 species of bird, mostly identified from humeri, plus shrews Crocidura suaveolens , a few lizards and dung beetles, in addition to their principal diet of rodents (rats Rattus rattus , mice Apodemus spp. & Mus musculus ). Amongst the birds, migrants appeared most vulnerable to owl predation, with some notable exceptions, while resident species were under-represented. The range of bird species found appears to be the largest recorded for any Barn Owl study of a single site. Considerable differences were found in species proportions of taxa in fresh pellets and in loose bones, probably due to differential rates of degradation. Photographs of all humeri are included to aid identification in other studies. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Cheke, Anthony S. Hume, Julian P. |
spellingShingle |
Cheke, Anthony S. Hume, Julian P. The diet, and pellet residue taphonomy, of Barn Owls Tyto alba on a Greek island reveals an exceptional diversity of avian prey |
author_facet |
Cheke, Anthony S. Hume, Julian P. |
author_sort |
Cheke, Anthony S. |
title |
The diet, and pellet residue taphonomy, of Barn Owls Tyto alba on a Greek island reveals an exceptional diversity of avian prey |
title_short |
The diet, and pellet residue taphonomy, of Barn Owls Tyto alba on a Greek island reveals an exceptional diversity of avian prey |
title_full |
The diet, and pellet residue taphonomy, of Barn Owls Tyto alba on a Greek island reveals an exceptional diversity of avian prey |
title_fullStr |
The diet, and pellet residue taphonomy, of Barn Owls Tyto alba on a Greek island reveals an exceptional diversity of avian prey |
title_full_unstemmed |
The diet, and pellet residue taphonomy, of Barn Owls Tyto alba on a Greek island reveals an exceptional diversity of avian prey |
title_sort |
diet, and pellet residue taphonomy, of barn owls tyto alba on a greek island reveals an exceptional diversity of avian prey |
publisher |
Walter de Gruyter GmbH |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/acro-2020-0001 https://www.sciendo.com/pdf/10.2478/acro-2020-0001 |
genre |
Rattus rattus |
genre_facet |
Rattus rattus |
op_source |
Acrocephalus volume 41, issue 184-185, page 3-24 ISSN 2199-6067 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.2478/acro-2020-0001 |
container_title |
Acrocephalus |
container_volume |
41 |
container_issue |
184-185 |
container_start_page |
3 |
op_container_end_page |
24 |
_version_ |
1799488190222958592 |