Some vertebrate prey of Barn Owls Tyto alba sumbaensis on Sumba and Rote, Indonesia

• Published in: Australian Field Ornithology
• Main Authors: Olsen, Jerry, Debus, Stephen J. S., Trost, Susan, Tsang, Leah, Parnaby, Harry
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2020
• Subjects: Sumba; Rattus rattus
• Online Access: https://researchprofiles.canberra.edu.au/en/publications/cf195549-fb55-4ba3-b026-3c3976e9b4fe; https://doi.org/10.20938/afo37044047; https://www.birdlife.org.au/afo/index.php/afo/article/view/2179

The diet of the Barn Owl Tyto alba sumbaensis is little known in Wallacea. Samples of pellets from nests in a church in an urban setting on Sumba and in a forested, limestone cli setting near Nembrala (Nemberala) on the small island of Rote (Roti), o Timor, were collected in July 2001 and July 2002, respectively. The Sumba sample contained the remains of rodents (three Black Rats Rattus rattus, four Paci c Rats R. exulans and one probable House Mouse Mus musculus) and birds (17 Eurasian Tree Sparrows Passer montanus). The sample from Rote contained the remains of 30 small fruit-bats (24 Geo roy’s Rousettes Rousettus amplexicaudatus and six that were probably also this species).