According to the Birds of North America account for Barred Owl, "Amphibian, reptile, and invertebrate prey have seasonal importance, often representing a large portion of summer diet." I presume invertebrates includes earthworms. It would be valuable to write up a small paper, after a careful viewing (and maybe making a good video), of how this Barred Owl is hunting for worms. (Mazur, Kurt M. and Paul C. James. 2000. Barred Owl (Strix varia), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu.proxy.library.cornell.edu/bna/species/508 doi:10.2173/bna.508)
I'm surprised any ornithology professor would use Broad-winged Hawks hunting on frogs as an example of an outlier food behavior taught by parents, because according to every account of the species I've ever read, including BNA, "Small mammals and amphibians are the most frequent prey and greatest biomass in most studies." (Goodrich, L. J., S. C. Crocoll and S. E. Senner. 1996. Broad-winged Hawk (Buteo platypterus), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu.proxy.library.cornell.edu/bna/species/218 doi:10.2173/bna.218) Best, Laura Erickson Duluth On Wed, Jun 6, 2012 at 7:07 AM, Gail Wieberdink <[email protected]> wrote: > Here are some responses I received to the barred owl eating worms question. > Interesting stuff. I will pass on additional comments if I receive more. > > > > Gail Wieberdink > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > > > Maybe they are feeding them to their young? Although the owlets should be > old enough by now to eat larger prey... it's just a guess. > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > When I took ornithology from Al Grewe at St. Cloud, he mentioned the extent > to which adults teach their offspring to feed, and the variation which > ensued as a result. > > A sort of primitive culture. One individual figures it out, and passes it > to the others. The example he gave was broad winged hawks feeding on frogs. > > > Not normal, but some do. > > > > I spent quite a bit of time a few years ago photographing robins from a > blind. The thing that struck me as strange, was the extent to which the > birds treated night crawlers as though they were dangerous. Pulling them > from the ground, attaching, and then retreating. Only to repeat the > process. To the best of my knowledge, the earthworms we have are all > European, and the robins are in fact treating them as though they are > snakes, which they also feed on. > > > > A little off topic, but it shows the extent to which feeding behavior isn't > always genetic. > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > > > > ---- > Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net > Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html -- Laura Erickson Duluth, MN For the love, understanding, and protection of birds There is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of birds. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature--the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the winter. —Rachel Carson Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail. ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
