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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 31(2)

Using the diet of the barn owl (Tyto alba) as an indicator of small vertebrate abundance in the Channel Country, south-western Queensland

Matthew C. McDowell A B C and Graham C. Medlin A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Mammal Section, South Australian Museum, North Terrace, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia.

B School of Biological Science, The Flinders University of South Australia, PO Box 2100, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia.

C Corresponding author. Email: matthew.mcdowell@flinders.edu.au

Australian Mammalogy 31(2) 75-80 https://doi.org/10.1071/AM08116
Submitted: 28 November 2008  Accepted: 6 May 2009   Published: 17 July 2009

Abstract

The diet of the barn owl (Tyto alba) was determined by analysing pellets and bulk pellet debris found in the ruins of Baryulah Homestead, south-western Queensland. Nine species of mammal, at least eight bird, five reptile and three frog species were identified. The majority of prey consisted of small mammals and was dominated by Mus musculus, which accounted for almost 40 Prey Unit percent (PU%) of all prey. Rattus villosissimus was an important secondary prey species, which, due to its comparatively large mass, contributed 21.79 PU%. Other native mammals were present in low frequency only. Reptiles (primarily geckos) were more abundant than expected, collectively contributing >15 PU%, suggesting that they were an important component of the barn owl’s diet.


Acknowledgements

This research was funded by Santos Ltd. We are very grateful to Steve Riley for his role in securing funding, and to Graham Carpenter and David Armstrong for collecting the owl pellet accumulation on which this research is based. We thank Catherine Kemper, David Stemmer, Mark Hutchinson, Philippa Horton and Maya Penck for access to their respective collections and aid in identifying specimens. We are grateful to Graham Carpenter, Catherine Kemper and Gavin Prideaux for providing comments on draft manuscripts. We also thank the Bureau of Meteorology for providing the relevant rainfall and flood data. Finally, thanks go to the numerous volunteers – particularly Brian Ross, Zbigniew Rudnicki and Janine Ellis – for their help with pellet dissection and sorting of bulk pellet debris. The quality of the paper was further enhanced by the constructive comments of three anonymous referees.


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