La photographie sur pellicule infrarouge : une méthode pour l’étude du régime alimentaire des oiseaux cavicoles

Abstract

In the framework of a general study of the Little Owl (Athene noctua) in Switzerland (Juillard, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981), the author has used a method which allows the diet of young cavity-dwelling birds to he examined. This method, inspired by Royama’s studies (1959) of the Great Tit (Parus major), is based on the use of infra-red film to take pictures of the adults when the latter come into the nesting cavity to feed their young. After having applied this system to four species of nocturnal birds of prey (the Tawny Owl Strix aluco ; the Tengmalm’s Owl Aegolius funereus ; the Barn Owl Tyto alba, the Little Owl Athene noctua, and to a species of duck (the Goosander Mergus merganser), the author thinks that this method can be generalized to all the species of cavity-dwelling birds, given small modifications for the particular species concerned.