Abstract
BackgroundThe barn owl, a nocturnal raptor with cosmopolitan distribution, shows a great adaptability to different environments. Regarding prey, the barn owl is a rather selective species, but if changes in the abundance of the selected prey occur, it becomes an opportunistic predator and easily incorporates other prey in its diet, using a wide range of prey species and foraging habitats. Small rodents are usually the prey mostly used. Compared to the populations of north and eastern Europe, barn owl populations in the Mediterranean area have been the least studied. In Cyprus, where barn owl is a common bird species, there are no studies on its diet and feeding ecology. This study was carried out to contribute to the spatial and temporal patterns barn owl diet in Cyprus also providing information on small mammals’ presence and species composition on the island.MethodsThis study was based on 1407 regurgitated pellet analysis that were collected from 26 sites representing six major habitat types on central and southern Cyprus from summer 2013 to summer 2014. The diet of the barn owl was described in terms of seasonal average biomass and numerical percentages of each prey species and compared by Kruskal–Wallis test. Seasonal prey diversity and evenness indices were also calculated. Principal component analysis (PCA) was performed on the prey biomass proportion data assigned to six major habitat types with regard to elevation, vegetation and human uses.ResultsLow prey diversity was found comprised mainly of rodents (overall means 96.2 and 95.7% by number and biomass, respectively). Mice followed by rats were most important prey whereas insectivores, birds and insects were minor components of the owl’s diet. Evenness and diversity values were relatively similar among seasons. PCA differentiated mainly between lowland areas where mice were more abundant prey and mountainous areas where rats dominated in the diet. Insectivores correlated with birds, prey types characterizing several lowland and highland habitats.ConclusionsThe barn owl prey composition in Cyprus suggests an opportunistic foraging behavior, low prey species diversity with variations in the main rodent prey that could be explained by their distribution, seasonal activity and habitat preferences.
Highlights
The barn owl, a nocturnal raptor with cosmopolitan distribution, shows a great adaptability to different environments
In Cyprus, information on the breeding ecology and trends of the barn owl is limited [24], whereas there are no studies on its diet and feeding ecology
The composition of barn owl diet in Cyprus reflects that of the eastern Mediterranean area where mammals dominate both by number (95.7% in our study vs. 90%, given by [21]) and by composition [ constituting of synanthropic species such as Mus spp., Rattus rattus, Crocidura suaveolens, Suncus etruscus and birds (Passer domesticus)] [21]
Summary
The barn owl, a nocturnal raptor with cosmopolitan distribution, shows a great adaptability to different environments. According to Tores et al [18] and Muñoz-Pedreros et al [17] the barn owl cannot be defined as a pure opportunist or a pure selective hunter This strategy of flexible hunting makes the barn owl a very successful predator, explaining its wide cosmopolitan distribution and the ability to colonize new environments, a plastic diet strategy much greater than that of most other species of raptors. Barn owl is a rather selective species, but if changes in the abundance of the selected prey occur, it becomes an opportunistic predator and incorporates other prey to its diet even prey of low energy value [19], remaining in its territory even when the selected prey types decrease [17]. Compared to the populations in north and eastern Europe, those in the Mediterranean area have been the least studied [8]
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