Molecular identification of bird species in the diet of the bird‐like noctule bat in Japan

Abstract

AbstractWe investigated the birds in the diet of the bird‐like noctule (Nyctalus aviator) through DNA amplification from feather remains found in faecal pellets. Our goal was to confirm whether N. aviator preys on nocturnally migratory species, as does its European relative N. lasiopterus, and to gain insight into this hunting strategy (e.g. on the wing vs. from cavities). The diversity and the characteristics of the birds found in the faecal remains indicate that in Japan N. aviator employs a similar hunting strategy on songbirds as N. lasiopterus in Iberia. Both noctules are primarily generalist insectivores that prey seasonally on songbirds of 5‐25 g body mass during their migration and probably hunt them at high altitude. Accordingly, predation on birds seems to be a strategy that appears in distant points across the Palaearctic and is not the result of local specialization. We hypothesize that the bird hunting behaviour appeared during evolution as a trophic jump from a pre‐existing hunting behaviour on the many insects that carry out seasonal nocturnal migrations in temperate zones at high altitude.