BioOne.org will be down briefly for maintenance on 17 December 2024 between 18:00-22:00 Pacific Time US. We apologize for any inconvenience.
How to translate text using browser tools
1 June 2004 A comparison of 3 methods for assessing raptor diet during the breeding season
Stephen B. Lewis, Mark R. Fuller, Kimberly Titus
Author Affiliations +
Abstract

Video recording of prey deliveries to nests is a new technique for collecting data on raptor diet, but no thorough comparison of results from traditional methods based on collections of prey remains and pellets has been undertaken. We compared data from these 3 methods to determine relative merits of different methods for assessing raptor diet as part of a study of the breeding-season diet of northern goshawks (Accipiter gentilis) in Southeast Alaska. We applied these methods to 5 nests during each of the northern goshawk breeding seasons of 1998 and 1999 and identified 1,540 prey from deliveries, 209 prey from remains, and 209 prey from pellets. The proportions of birds and mammals varied among techniques, as did relative proportions of prey groups and age groups. Prey remains and pellets gave the least-similar diet descriptions. Over 2-day intervals during which data were collected using all 3 methods, prey-delivery data gave more individual prey and prey categories than the 2 other sources of information. We found that prey were not directly tracked in either prey remains or pellets compared with prey delivery videography. Analysis of prey-delivery videography provided the most complete description of diet, and we recommend that studies attempting to describe diet use this technique, at least as part of their methodology.

Stephen B. Lewis, Mark R. Fuller, and Kimberly Titus "A comparison of 3 methods for assessing raptor diet during the breeding season," Wildlife Society Bulletin 32(2), 373-385, (1 June 2004). https://doi.org/10.2193/0091-7648(2004)32[373:ACOMFA]2.0.CO;2
Published: 1 June 2004
JOURNAL ARTICLE
13 PAGES

This article is only available to subscribers.
It is not available for individual sale.
+ SAVE TO MY LIBRARY

KEYWORDS
Accipiter gentilis
diet
food habits
methods
northern goshawk
pellets
prey remains
RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS
Get copyright permission
Back to Top