“An inordinate fondness for beetles”: first description of Common Nighthawk (Chordeiles minor) diet in the boreal biome | Un penchant démesuré pour les coléoptères: la première description du régime alimentaire de l'Engoulevent d'Amérique (Chordeiles minor) dans la forêt boréale
2018
Knight, Elly C. | Ng, Janet W. | Mader, Caitlin E. | Brigham, Robert Mark | Bayne, Erin M.
We present the first description of Common Nighthawk (Chordeiles minor) diet from the boreal biome. Knowledge of diet is important for this crepuscular aerial insectivore, whose population declines may be related to insect food sources. We collected 4 nestling diet samples as food boluses from 1 adult female and 3 adult males on the breeding grounds in northern Alberta, Canada. Coleopterans comprised the majority of samples, and the composition of the sample from the female differed from those collected from males. Further research is needed across the boreal forest to characterize foraging strategies and assess the potential role of food availability in population declines.
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