Seasonal changes in food composition of the Barn Owl (Tyto alba) in the northern part of the "Záhorie" region

33 prey species (10 296 individuals) were recovered from pellets of the Barn Owl in northern part of the "Záhorie" region (Western Slovakia) during period 2002-2006. The family Arvicolidae constituted 65.68 % of recoveries, Soricidae 17.86 %, Muridae 16.64 %, Talpidae 0.04 %, Gliridae 0.02 %, Mustelidae 0.02 %, Vespertilionidae 0.04 % and Aves 4.7 %. Microtus arvalis was predominantly represented by 65.2 %. For evaluation of diet data "The marked differences from the mean method" was used. The results of pellet analyses provide, besides information about owl diet, also new data about occurrence and geographical distribution of small mammalian species and importance of predators in agricultural landscape.