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Do Tengmalm’s Owls alter parental feeding effort under varying conditions of main prey availability?

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Abstract

We studied the diet composition and behavioural responses to variable food conditions in Tengmalm’s Owls (Aegolius funereus). The abundance of main prey (voles and mice) of owls was higher in the Ore Mountains, Czech Republic, than in the Kauhava region, Finland. We monitored nests continuously by a camera system to estimate the feeding frequency and to identify prey items provided to nestlings. We recorded 990 prey deliveries at six nests in the Ore Mountains and 1,679 prey deliveries at nine nests in the Kauhava region. Mice (Apodemus) and voles (Microtus and Clethrionomys) were the main foods of owls in the Ore Mountains, whereas voles (Clethrionomys and Microtus) and shrews (Sorex) were the main foods in the Kauhava region. In consequence, on average smaller prey items were brought to nestlings at the Finnish site. However, both absolute and relative (per one nestling) feeding frequency was higher in the Kauhava region, and the biomass available to individual nestlings did not differ between the two areas. Moreover, the Finnish and Czech pairs produced about the same number of fledglings. Our results suggest that male owls are able to maintain the amount of food required for chicks by switching to alternative prey, and to increase their prey delivery rates under conditions of reduced abundance of main food.

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Acknowledgments

Many thanks belong to Jan Zárybnický, Karel Št’astný, Michael Griesser, Jorma Nurmi and Rauno Varjonen for their help in the field. We are grateful to Vladimír Bezouška and Pavel Děd for their technical assisstance. We also thank Vincenzo Penteriani and an anonymous referee for their comments on the manuscript. The work of the first two authors has been supported by grants of the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (CIGA 41110-1313-3156) and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic (LC 06073, MSM 0021620828 and FRVS 41110-1161-1625). This research complies with the laws of the countries in which they were performed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology and Environment, Faculty of Environmental Science, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, 16521, Prague 6 - Suchdol, Czech Republic

    Markéta Zárybnická

  2. Department of Ecology, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Viničná 7, 12844, Prague 2, Czech Republic

    Ondřej Sedláček

  3. Section of Ecology, Department of Biology, University of Turku, 20014, Turku, Finland

    Erkki Korpimäki

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  1. Markéta Zárybnická
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Correspondence to Markéta Zárybnická.

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Communicated by T. Friedl.

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Zárybnická, M., Sedláček, O. & Korpimäki, E. Do Tengmalm’s Owls alter parental feeding effort under varying conditions of main prey availability?. J Ornithol 150, 231–237 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-008-0342-6

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