Diet of the Short-Eared Owl (Asio flammeus) in the Antisana highlands, Ecuador

• Main Authors: Héctor Cadena-Ortiz, María Fernanda Solórzano, Mishell Noboa, Jorge Brito
• Format: Article
• Language: Spanish
• Published: Sección Mexicana del Consejo Internacional para la Preservación de las Aves, A.C. 2019-07-01
• Series: Huitzil
• Subjects: cricetidae; mammals; pellets; prey; sylvilagus andinus.
• Online Access: http://ojs.huitzil.net/index.php/huitzil/article/view/436

The knowledge of the diet of a species is an important element to understand its natural history and ecology, the information about Ecuadorian owls’ diet increases progressively. We analyzed n = 163 pellets of the short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus) collected in the Antisana highlands, north of Ecuador. We found 242 preys of six taxa; the paramo rabbit Sylvilagus andinus was the most important prey in terms of frequency (46%) and biomass contribution (78%). The diet of the owl in the Antisana highlands has low diversity, it could be related to individual specialization or the low availability of prey on the 4000 m; the mammals as preys dominated in frequency and biomass like previous studies.