Relative importance of plague rodents and dasyurids as prey of barn owls in central Australia

Abstract

We examined the diet of the barn owl in three bioregions of arid Northern Territory; two in upland areas, the other on the Barkly Tableland. Owls from the MacDonnell and Petermann Ranges fed predominantly on rodents. At both sites, Mus musculus was the dominant prey both in terms of frequency and prey units, with Pseudomys hermannsburgensis an important secondary item. Notomys alexis was an important secondary item in the MacDonnell Ranges. These results support previous research in highlighting the importance of plague rodents in the diet of barn owls in arid Australia. In contrast to the samples from the upland sites, the Barkly Tableland sample was composed mostly of the dasyurid marsupial Sminthopsis macroura, with only one rodent captured. The absence of the long-haired rat, Rattus villosissimus, from the sample, despite the species being a favoured prey item of the barn owl that undergoes population irruptions at the collection site, suggests that the sample was collected during a non-plague period. Our study is the first to record a marsupial species as the major prey of the barn owl. This finding suggests that barn owls can switch to other prey when populations of rodents crash.

The Barn Owl- A Selective Opportunist Predator

“…Heywood and pavey (2002) found that barn owls are capable of switching to other prey when rodent populations decline, while Morton and Martin (1979) found that the barn owl became uncommon (due to dispersal or starvation) after a drop in abundance of their main prey species, and that they did not switch to an alternative prey.…”

Variation in the diet and breeding biology of the Common Barn-owl (Tyto alba) in a demographic cycle of Common Vole (Microtus arvalis) between two outbreaks×

“…Kulcsszavak: reprodukciós kimenet, táplálékfogyasztás, alternatív zsákmány, gradáció 1 University of Pécs, Faculty of Sciences, Institute of Biology, Department of Ecology, 7624 Pécs, Ifjúság utca 6., Hungary 2 Baranya County Group of BirdLife Hungary, 7632 Pécs, Siklósi út 94., Hungary BirdLife Hungary, 1121 Budapest, Költő utca 21., Hungary * corresponding author, e-mail: hgypte@gamma.ttk.pte.hu prey were reported by studies particularly in arid environments, where food intake results supported that the Common Barn-owl is a rather selective opportunistic predator (Heywood & Pavey 2002, Tores et al 2005, McDowell & Medlin 2009, Romano et al 2020.…”

The impact of European colonization on the late-Holocene non-volant mammals of Yorke Peninsula, South Australia

“…Avenant (2005) showed that frequencies of barn owl prey in South Africa closely matched the frequencies of prey available in the surrounding small animal community. In addition, studies have shown that Australian barn owls, which are typically nomadic and follow rodent irruptions, can have considerable dietary flexibility and are capable of consuming a diet consisting primarily of marsupials (Heywood and Pavey, 2002) or even reptiles (McDowell and Medlin, 2009). Therefore, the differences of species presence and frequency observed between INPA and TRHA are likely to represent differences in the proximal living communities at the time(s) of predation.…”