Meal to pellet intervals in 14 species of captive raptors

Duke, Gary E.; Evanson, Oral A.; Jegers, A.

doi:10.1016/s0300-9629(76)80001-1

Cited by 114 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Duke et al (1976) for a variety of raptors, Tarboton (1977) for Black-shouldered Kites Elanus caeruleus, and Crichton (1977) for European Kestrels. Pellet weight in wild Kestrels is probably affected mainly by the type of prey eaten; even so, the mean weight of single item pellets may be a useful index of daily food intake.…”

Section: Pellet Weightmentioning

confidence: 99%

The diet of Kestrels in relation to vole abundance

Village

1982

Bird Study

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Most previous studies have involved either collecting pellets from a single roost or from several roosts over a comparatively short time. Some of these results are therefore applicable only to a particular season (eg. Davis 1975) or may have been affected by the temporary abundance of unusual prey, eg. Pygmy Shrews Sorex minutus (Simms 1961). The data presented here were collected during a four year study of Kestrels in southern Scotland. My aims were to monitor changes in the diet of the Kestrel population between seasons and over several years to see how these related to changes in the abundance of Short-tailed Voles in the same area.

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Section: Pellet Weightmentioning

confidence: 99%

The diet of Kestrels in relation to vole abundance

Village

1982

Bird Study

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“…can be distinguished according to the number of tubercle rows in the first molar tooth (Lapini et al 1996). The meal-to-pellet interval (MPI) becomes longer as meal size increases (Duke et al 1976;Duke & Rhoades 1977). Accordingly, while all the insects may have been eaten on the island, we cannot exclude that small mammals, rich in indigestible parts and in proteins, may have been preyed upon elsewhere.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Accordingly, while all the insects may have been eaten on the island, we cannot exclude that small mammals, rich in indigestible parts and in proteins, may have been preyed upon elsewhere. Thus, the bank vole and wild mice detected in Pianosa may have been eaten in the surrounding areas by the scops owl a few hours before (10-13 hours on average for owls: Duke et al 1976) and then the pellet egested in Pianosa. Our results provide important insights into the diet of this species outside the breeding period, as well as a potential new support to the hypothesis of ineffectiveness of distribution studies assessed through raptor pellet dissection.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Feeding ecology of the scops owl, Otus scops (Aves: Strigiformes), in the island of Pianosa (Tuscan Archipelago, Central Italy) outside the breeding period

Mori

Mazzetto

Menchetti

et al. 2016

Italian Journal of Zoology

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All of the published studies but one about the diet of the Eurasian scops owl Otus scops, a nocturnal raptor of conservation concern, were carried out during the breeding period, just before or immediately after the chicks fledged. The species is a trans-Saharian migrant with few resident populations in Europe. Orthoptera make up the staple of its diet in summer. In this study, we investigated the diet of scops owls on the island of Pianosa after the breeding period through the analysis of pellets. A total of 327 fragments belonging to at least 14 taxa were identified from 56 pellets collected after the breeding period, between late August and March. By frequency, invertebrates constituted 80.00% of the diet, with Coleoptera being the most represented order (62.35% of the total diet) and Orthoptera poorly represented (8.24%). Vertebrates included two bird species, three small mammals and the Moorish gecko. Although the meal-to-pellet interval for scops owls is unknown, we suggest that the bank vole, which is not recorded on any Italian island, and possibly the wild mice, may have been preyed upon in nearby areas, before a migratory movement towards a warm area (e.g. Pianosa) occurred.

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“…This system of management has been successfully employed for a wide range of both Strigiformes, owls, and Falconiformes, eagles, hawks and falcons (Kirkwood, 1979;Duke, Evanson & Jegers, 1976).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%