Mammals present in the diet of the Barn Owl (<em>Tyto alba</em>) in Valdivia, Guayas, Ecuador

Abstract

In the Ecuadorian dry forest of the Valdivia region, near Machalilla National Park, two Barn Owl (Tyto alba) refuges was found in a cliff. Owl pellets and many bones of prey animals were found at the base of the cliff. The bones were picked up, mainly skulls and jaws and were identified. Eight species of mammals were registered; 85 % represents rodents and 12.6 % marsupials. The Peruvian cotton mouse (Sigmodon peruanus) is the main mammal hunted by this owl, representing 40.2% of the total mammals used as food by the owl, followed by the yellow coast rat (Aegiolamys xantheolus) with 33.3 %, then by the pacific spiny rat (Proechimys decumanus) with 9.2 %, next by the simons’s small opossum (Marmosa robinsoni simonsi) with 8%, the common opossum (Didelphis sp.) with 4.6%, the transandean rat (Transandinomys sp.) with 2.3 %. The wild rabbit (Sylvilagus brasiliensis) and the fruit-eating bat (Artibeus fraterculus), represent 3.6% (one specimen each). The average number of individuals registered in each pellet was 2.2.

Keywords

• Bosque seco
• cricetidae
• roedores
• egagrópila
• lechuza de campanario