Title:

The food of the tawny owl Strix aluco in the Oder Valley in the Opole Voivodeship (south-western Poland)

Subtitle:

The food of Strix aluco in the Oder Valley ; Pokarm puszczyka Strix aluco w dolinie Odry w województwie opolskim (południowo-zachodnia Polska)

Creator:

Hebda, Grzegorz

Publisher:

Muzeum i Instytut Zoologii Polskiej Akademii Nauk

Place of publishing:

Warszawa

Date issued/created:

2024

Description:

24 cm

Type of object:

Journal/Article

Subject and Keywords:

owl pellets ; owl diet ; mammal fauna ; Oder river ; Odra ; SW Poland ; micromammalia

Abstract:

The aim of this paper was to describe the diet of the tawny owl Strix aluco in the Oder Valley in the Opole Voivodeship, south-western Poland. Tawny owl pellets were collected in the years 1996-2024 from 22 sites, grouped into five distinct localities. In total 19 species of mammals were found: 4 species of Soricomorpha, 1 Chiroptera, 1 Lagomorpha, 12 Rodentia and 1 Carnivora. Among 1103 identified prey items (902 belonged to mammals), 77.1% belonged to Rodents, which played the most important role as a prey at every locality. Microtus arvalis, Apodemus agrarius, A. flavicollis and Clethrionomys glareolus were the most important prey species in the tawny owl`s diet. Crocidura suaveolens, M. arvalis, Mus musculus and A. agrarius were more frequently caught by tawny owl in farmlands, whereas A. flavicollis and C. glareolus were more abundant in forest habitats. High domination of Arvcollidae with Muridae in the diet, together with very low share of soricomorphs and other group of mammals, may indicate a considerable degradation of once natural environment of the Oder Valley within this section, currently dominated with farmland monocultures.

Relation:

FRAGMENTA FAUNISTICA 67 (1): 61–71, 2024

Volume:

67

Issue:

1

Start page:

61

End page:

71

Resource type:

Text

Detailed Resource Type:

Article

Resource Identifier:

10.3161/00159301FF2024.67.1.061

Source:

MiIZ PAN, call no. P.256 ; MiIZ PAN, call no. P.4664

Language:

eng ; eng

Rights:

Creative Commons Attribution BY 4.0 license

Terms of use:

Copyright-protected material. [CC BY 4.0] May be used within the scope specified in Creative Commons Attribution BY 4.0 license, full text available at: ; -

Digitizing institution:

Museum and Institute of Zoology of the Polish Academy of Sciences

Original in:

Library of the Museum and Institute of Zoology of the Polish Academy of Sciences

Access:

Open