Food habits of the endemic Cyprus scops owl ( Otus cyprius) during the breeding season
Abstract The diet of the endemic Cyprus scops owl ( Otus cyprius ) was studied for the first time during the breeding season 2021 in 7 nesting sites from 6 sampling locations using the pellet analysis (n = 65 pellets). Insects, mostly Orthoptera and Coleoptera, comprised the bulk of the owl diet (87...
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Walter de Gruyter GmbH
2024
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/srj-2024-0001 https://www.sciendo.com/pdf/10.2478/srj-2024-0001 |
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crdegruyter:10.2478/srj-2024-0001 2024-05-19T07:47:44+00:00 Food habits of the endemic Cyprus scops owl ( Otus cyprius) during the breeding season Kassinis, Nicolaos Alivizatos, Haralambos Christou, Antaia Charalambides, Markos Tölgyesi, Zoltán 2024 http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/srj-2024-0001 https://www.sciendo.com/pdf/10.2478/srj-2024-0001 en eng Walter de Gruyter GmbH http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0 Raptor Journal volume 18, issue 1, page 1-7 ISSN 2644-5247 journal-article 2024 crdegruyter https://doi.org/10.2478/srj-2024-0001 2024-05-02T06:52:18Z Abstract The diet of the endemic Cyprus scops owl ( Otus cyprius ) was studied for the first time during the breeding season 2021 in 7 nesting sites from 6 sampling locations using the pellet analysis (n = 65 pellets). Insects, mostly Orthoptera and Coleoptera, comprised the bulk of the owl diet (87% abundance, 31% biomass), whereas small mammals and reptiles were important in terms of biomass, with 41% and 24%, respectively. Birds were the lowest prey order, with 0.6% abundance and 3.6% biomass. The most essential insects were grasshoppers (Acrididae) (17%) and scarab beetles (Scarabaeidae) (6%). From vertebrate prey, Mus spp. (23.7%), Mediterranean house gecko ( Hemidactylus turcicus ) (8%), Cyprus spiny mice ( Acomys nesiotes ) (8%), juvenile black rats ( Rattus rattus ) (7%), and Cyprus agamas ( Laudakia cypriaca ) (5%) stand out as % biomass. Predation on a bat species ( Pipistrellus sp.) by scops owl was documented for the first time in Cyprus. The estimated prey biomass ranged from 0.1 – 25 grams, averaging 2.1 g. Article in Journal/Newspaper Rattus rattus De Gruyter Raptor Journal 18 1 1 7 |
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Open Polar |
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De Gruyter |
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crdegruyter |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract The diet of the endemic Cyprus scops owl ( Otus cyprius ) was studied for the first time during the breeding season 2021 in 7 nesting sites from 6 sampling locations using the pellet analysis (n = 65 pellets). Insects, mostly Orthoptera and Coleoptera, comprised the bulk of the owl diet (87% abundance, 31% biomass), whereas small mammals and reptiles were important in terms of biomass, with 41% and 24%, respectively. Birds were the lowest prey order, with 0.6% abundance and 3.6% biomass. The most essential insects were grasshoppers (Acrididae) (17%) and scarab beetles (Scarabaeidae) (6%). From vertebrate prey, Mus spp. (23.7%), Mediterranean house gecko ( Hemidactylus turcicus ) (8%), Cyprus spiny mice ( Acomys nesiotes ) (8%), juvenile black rats ( Rattus rattus ) (7%), and Cyprus agamas ( Laudakia cypriaca ) (5%) stand out as % biomass. Predation on a bat species ( Pipistrellus sp.) by scops owl was documented for the first time in Cyprus. The estimated prey biomass ranged from 0.1 – 25 grams, averaging 2.1 g. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Kassinis, Nicolaos Alivizatos, Haralambos Christou, Antaia Charalambides, Markos Tölgyesi, Zoltán |
spellingShingle |
Kassinis, Nicolaos Alivizatos, Haralambos Christou, Antaia Charalambides, Markos Tölgyesi, Zoltán Food habits of the endemic Cyprus scops owl ( Otus cyprius) during the breeding season |
author_facet |
Kassinis, Nicolaos Alivizatos, Haralambos Christou, Antaia Charalambides, Markos Tölgyesi, Zoltán |
author_sort |
Kassinis, Nicolaos |
title |
Food habits of the endemic Cyprus scops owl ( Otus cyprius) during the breeding season |
title_short |
Food habits of the endemic Cyprus scops owl ( Otus cyprius) during the breeding season |
title_full |
Food habits of the endemic Cyprus scops owl ( Otus cyprius) during the breeding season |
title_fullStr |
Food habits of the endemic Cyprus scops owl ( Otus cyprius) during the breeding season |
title_full_unstemmed |
Food habits of the endemic Cyprus scops owl ( Otus cyprius) during the breeding season |
title_sort |
food habits of the endemic cyprus scops owl ( otus cyprius) during the breeding season |
publisher |
Walter de Gruyter GmbH |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/srj-2024-0001 https://www.sciendo.com/pdf/10.2478/srj-2024-0001 |
genre |
Rattus rattus |
genre_facet |
Rattus rattus |
op_source |
Raptor Journal volume 18, issue 1, page 1-7 ISSN 2644-5247 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.2478/srj-2024-0001 |
container_title |
Raptor Journal |
container_volume |
18 |
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1 |
container_start_page |
1 |
op_container_end_page |
7 |
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1799488192593788928 |