Barn Owl (Tyto alba) Prey from Pellets Collected During Periods of Deficit and Abundant Precipitation in Claiborne County, Tennessee

G. Neil Douglas^1,*, Moondil Jahan¹, Rhea Sharma¹, Jessica Vinson¹, Geri Mitchell¹, Sean Nilan¹, Rudolphe A. Gelis², and Ralph L. Thompson³

¹Biology Department, Berea College, Berea, KY 40404. ²Yanayacu Biological Station, Quito, Ecuador. ³Forestry Department, Berea College, Berea, KY 40403. *Corresponding author.

Southeastern Naturalist, Volume 23, Issue 1 (2024): 43–51

First published early online: 16 February 2024

Abstract
We collected 280 pellets cast by Tyto alba (Barn Owl) from 1996, 1997, and 1998 from a silo roost in Harrogate, TN. Blarina brevicauda (Northern Short-tailed Shrew, 42.2%), Synaptomys cooperi (Southern Bog Lemming, 13.6%), Cryptotis parva (Least Shrew, 10.9%), Sigmodon hispidus (Hispid Cotton Rat, 7.9%), Microtus spp. (4.9%), and Aves spp. (4.3%) comprised most of the prey items. Compared to a previous study, percentages of Northern Short-tailed Shrews were proportionately greater than those of Southern Bog Lemmings in the 1996–1998 pellets. Precipitation and fluctuations in prey populations might be responsible for the disparities in diet composition between pellet collections, but more research is necessary to investigate a possible relationship.

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