Autumn diet of Little Owls (Athene noctua) in southern Tunisia

The Little Owl (Athene noctua) is a widespread nocturnal raptor whose diet has extensively been studied. In the Mediterranean, a tendency towards increased ingestion of insects has been highlighted, but this tendency still needs more empirical validation. Here, we provide data on the autumn diet of Little Owls in an arid area in southern Tunisia. We analyzed 621 pellets from 30 different territories and identified 4,267 prey items, with insects being by far the most ingested prey. However, based on biomass, the diet was more evenly distributed across the identified prey categories. Vertebrates accounted for 63% of the biomass ingested, while the remaining part of prey composition was almost equally shared between insects and arachnids. The importance of arachnids looks like a characteristic dietary trait of Little Owls in south Mediterranean deserts, where arachnids represent a main component of the community of potential prey. In summary, our findings highlight the great food opportunism of the Little Owl due to its capability of adapting its diet to the availability of potential prey.