Diet of the Eurasian Tawny Owl in farmland of east Poland. - I. Kitowski, G. Pitucha. - Berkut. 16 (2). 2007. - P. 225-231.
Food habits of the Eurasian Tawny Owl in farmland have been analyzed for seven astronomical seasons in the Lublin region (E Poland) from 1999–2001. Mammalian prey was found to dominate in the overall biomass, contributing 92.7 % of the total number of prey (n = 3813) and 92.3 % of the mass of consumed prey, respectively. Among mammals, the most numerous in the diet was the Common Vole 46.9 % in number and 50.5 % in biomass, respectively. Avian prey contributed only 3.3 % of the number and 5.3 % of the total biomass in the overall prey consumed by Tawny Owls. Avian prey was dominated by the House Sparrow. Tawny Owls captured prey ranging in biomass from 0.5–460 g. The mean weight of prey was 46.3 ± 15.0 g with a geometric average: 22.2 g. European Hamster (460 g) were the largest individual prey items caught by Tawny Owls. [English].
Key words: Eurasian Tawny Owl, Strix aluco, east Poland, ecology, feeding, prey, pellet.
Address: I. Kitowski, Department of Nature Conservation, Institute of Biology, Maria Curie-Sklodowska University, Akademicka 19, PL 20-033 Lublin, Poland; e-mail: ignacyk@autograf.pl.
G. Pitucha, Dep. of Zoology, University of Rzeszów, Cegielniana 12, PL 35-959 Rzeszów, Poland; e-mail: gpitucha@univ.rzeszow.pl.