<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>The little owl (<italic>Athene noctua</italic>) is a common raptor in Mediterranean habitats. To acquire more information on its diet, this study identified cranial and post-cranial skeletal material from 70 owl pellets collected during the 2016 and 2017 breeding seasons. The material was used to quantify the little owl’s relative prey abundance using MNI (minimum number of individuals), a taphonomical unit. This study is the first to examine the diet of the little owl in the Peloponnese (southern Greece). After examining 3,691 isolated skeletal and exoskeletal remains from the processed pellets, a total of 78 and 108 prey items were recorded for the two consecutive years. This study, in congruence with previous research, showed that in both years the little owl favoured primarily small mammals and arthropods, with a clear predominance of Thomas’s pine vole (<italic>Microtus thomasi</italic>) and arthropods from the class Diplopoda. Finally, a redundancy discriminant analysis (RDA) was applied to our two-year results, along with those from similar studies in the Mediterranean region, to examine the relationship between habitat types and prey taxa, which supported the little owl’s opportunistic feeding behaviour, depending on variation of ecological factors.</p>
</abstract>

The little owl (Athene noctua) is a common raptor in Mediterranean habitats. To acquire more information on its diet, this study identified cranial and post-cranial skeletal material from 70 owl pellets collected during the 2016 and 2017 breeding seasons. The material was used to quantify the little owl’s relative prey abundance using MNI (minimum number of individuals), a taphonomical unit. This study is the first to examine the diet of the little owl in the Peloponnese (southern Greece). After examining 3,691 isolated skeletal and exoskeletal remains from the processed pellets, a total of 78 and 108 prey items were recorded for the two consecutive years. This study, in congruence with previous research, showed that in both years the little owl favoured primarily small mammals and arthropods, with a clear predominance of Thomas’s pine vole (Microtus thomasi) and arthropods from the class Diplopoda. Finally, a redundancy discriminant analysis (RDA) was applied to our two-year results, along with those from similar studies in the Mediterranean region, to examine the relationship between habitat types and prey taxa, which supported the little owl’s opportunistic feeding behaviour, depending on variation of ecological factors.

Hunger sweetens the beans: evidence of opportunistic feeding behaviour of the little owl (<italic>Athene noctua</italic>, Scopoli 1769) from Peloponnese, Greece

Laboratory of Palaeontology and Stratigraphy, Department of Geology

Section of Animal Biology, Department of Biology

Raptor Journal

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Hunger sweetens the beans: evidence of opportunistic feeding behaviour of the little owl (, Scopoli 1769) from Peloponnese, Greece

The little owl (Athene noctua) is a common raptor in Mediterranean habitats. To acquire more information on its diet, this study identified cranial and...

Hunger sweetens the beans: evidence of opportunistic feeding behaviour of the little owl (Athene noctua, Scopoli 1769) from Peloponnese, Greece

Pubblicato online: 21 mar 2023

Pagine: 57 - 67

Ricevuto: 09 mag 2022

Accettato: 14 feb 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/srj-2022-0006

Parole chiave
owl prey, owl pellets, Rodentia, Insecta, mainland Greece

© 2022 Maria Kolendrianou et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Hunger sweetens the beans: evidence of opportunistic feeding behaviour of the little owl (Athene noctua, Scopoli 1769) from Peloponnese, Greece

Pubblicato online: 21 mar 2023

Pagine: 57 - 67

Ricevuto: 09 mag 2022

Accettato: 14 feb 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/srj-2022-0006

Parole chiaveowl prey, owl pellets, Rodentia, Insecta, mainland Greece

© 2022 Maria Kolendrianou et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Parole chiave
owl prey, owl pellets, Rodentia, Insecta, mainland Greece