Diet of Barn owls (Tytoalba) in Katima Mulilo, Zambezi region, Namibia

Abstract

The diet of barn owls (tytoalba) was studied at three active roosting sites in order to understand their feeding ecology throughout various phases of the annual cycle. We conducted weekly field trips between June and October 2016. During that period a total of 516 pellets were collected during the wet (353) and dry season (163). Furthermore, this study has resulted in the first-ever documentation on the diet of barn owl in Katima Mulilo in the Zambezi region of north eastern Namibia. bones and skulls were extracted from dissected pellets and identified to taxonomic level based on cranial structure and bdirect comparison to reference specimens collected from shamvura, Kavango east region by kopij (2013).small mammals were the main prey in both seasons (86.3% in the wet season and 94% in the dry season) followed by arthropods in the wet season with 12.8% and 2% in the dry season, while birds contributed 0.5%in the wet season and 4%in the dry season. Results of this study point to the importance of basic field studies to understand the needs of a particular species as well as the community that supports it.