Prey Composition of Barn Owl Pellets Collected in Oklahoma

Abstract

We examined the prey composition of Barn Owl (Tyto alba) pellets from 26 counties in Oklahoma across five regions. A total of 49,186 pellets was collected from 1978 through 1992, representing 58,937 total prey items. The majority (98.6%) of the prey items were mammals, although birds, snakes, and invertebrates were also found. The most frequently encountered species were Sigmodon hispidus (n = 21,472), Peromyscus spp. (n = 9077), and Chaetodipus hispidus (n = 7381). Dietary composition by region broadly reflected published accounts of relative abundances of small mammal in each region. These results lead us to suggest that Barn Owls are generalist predators of small mammals across Oklahoma. ©2015 Oklahoma Academy of Science