Mammalian content of Barn owl pellets from Gozo

Abstract

Owl pellets are indigestible food remains, mainly feathers, fur and bones, which are compacted and regurgitated by the bird. Pellets can give valuable information on the composition of the food and food preferences of birds of prey (Miles 1952) and also on the distribution of small mammals, particularly in areas which are not readily sampled by the usual methods. It is thus surprising that the study of owl pellets has received no attention Locally, with the exception of a single publication by Sultana (1971) who extracted remains of six species of mammals from 20 Barn Owl Tyto alba pellets. The present work reports on the mammalian content of Barn Owl pellets collected from Gozo. A future publication will report on the avian remains from these pellets.