Feeding habits of American mink from Biebrza Wetlands affected by varied winter conditions

Abstract

) is describedas an opportunistic predator, feeding mainly on mam-mals, fishes and amphibians, but also on birds and inver-tebrates (Lode 1993, Halliwell and Macdonald 1996,Jedrzejewska, et al. 2001, Sidorovich et al. 2001, Mac-˛donald 2002, Bartoszewicz and Zalewski 2003). The dietof this predator can vary between spring–summer andautumn–winter seasons and is related to prey distributionunder different habitat conditions (Sidorovich 2000, Jedr-˛zejewska et al. 2001, Macdonald 2002). The subject ofinteractions between American mink and native Europe-an predator species such as the otter