Diet of the barn owl (Tyto alba) in Central Punjab (Pakistan)
2000
Mahmood-ul-Hassan, M. | Beg, M.A. | Ali, H. (University of Agriculture, Faisalabad (Pakistan). Dept. of Zoology and Fisheries)
From June 1996 through May 1998, 1694 pellets of the barn owl (Tyto albs) were collected from 24 localities (predominantly canal rest houses) in six districts of central Punjab (Pakistan). An analysis of these pellets revealed that the barn owl depended for its food mainly on shrews (65%), rodents (27.5%), bats (2.0%) and birds (5.1%) which jointly constituted more than 99% of all the prey specimens recorded from their remnants in the pellets. The diet of the owl varied significantly from locality to locality (P less than.05) and from season to season (P less than 01). In the fall and winter seasons, during which most of the owl's breeding takes place, the house shrew (Suncus murinus) was the chief staple of its diet.
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