Has the Australian Endemic Grey Falcon the Most Extreme Dietary Specialization among all Falco Species?
Abstract
:Simple Summary
Abstract
1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Study Species
2.2. Study Area and Study Period
2.3. Data Collection
3. Results
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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State or Territory | Number of Year-Sites * | Number of Items Observed Being Ingested | Number of Items Identified to Class Level | Birds | Mammals | Lizards |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
New South Wales | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 (100%) | 0 (0.0%) | 0 (0.0%) |
Northern Territory | 13 | 109 | 67 | 66 (98.5%) | 0 (0.0%) | 1 (1.5%) |
Queensland | 44 | 264 | 100 | 98 (98.0%) | 2 (2.0%) | 0 (0.0%) |
South Australia | 6 | 38 | 14 | 14 (100%) | 0 (0.0%) | 0 (0.0%) |
Western Australia | 23 | 139 | 55 | 55 (100%) | 0 (0.0%) | 0 (0.0%) |
Total | 87 | 551 | 237 | 234 (98.7%) | 2 (0.8%) | 1 (0.4%) |
Age Group | Number of Food Items Ingested | Number of Grey Falcons Involved in All Feedings Combined | Number of Grey Falcons Involved in Feeding on Identified Items | Number of Ingested Items Identified to Class Level | Birds | Mammals | Lizards |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nestling, fledgling | 491 | 145 | 119 | 194 | 191 (98.5%) | 2 (1.0%) | 1 (0.5%) |
Juvenile, immature, yearling | 35 | 10 | 7 | 18 | 18 (100%) | 0 (0.0%) | 0 (0.0%) |
Adult | 550 | 166 | 131 | 237 | 234 (98.7%) | 2 (0.8%) | 1 (0.4%) |
No. | Year | State or Territory | Item | Involvement of Grey Falcon(s) | Hunt Involved | Item Consumed | Observer | Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Observations in which non-avian food items were ingested | ||||||||
1 | 2011 | QLD | Presumed Long-haired Rat | Delivered to nest by adult male | Not observed | Yes 1 | J.S. | [17] |
2 | 2011 | QLD | Presumed Long-haired Rat | Delivered to nest by adult male | Not observed | Yes 2 | J.S. | [17] |
3 | 2014 | SA | Presumed Long-haired Rat | Captured at base of tree on which the adult falcon was perched | Opportunistic | Almost certainly 3 | E.D. Moore | [19] |
4 | 1971 | QLD | Small lizard (≤250 mm) | Captured by the adult male of a family of 4 (2 adults, 2 young) | Opportunistic | Yes 4 | G. Czechura | [20] |
5 | 2016 | NT | Small lizard (≤250 mm) | Adult male caught lizard dropped by a kestrel | No | Yes 5 | J.S. | [10] |
Observations in which non-avian food items could readily have been taken but were not | ||||||||
6 | 2020 | WA | Small lizard (~250 mm) | Delivered to nest by adult male | Not observed | No 6 | J.S. | [10] |
7 | 2010 | QLD | Locust swarms | Adult male and female ignored the locust swarms | No | No 7 | J.S. | [11] |
8 | 2021 | WA | Grasshopper | The grasshopper collided with a low-flying juvenile falcon | No | Probably not 8 | J.S. | [10] |
No. | Falco Species | Common Name | Birds | Invertebrates | Mammals | Reptiles and Amphibians | Carrion | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | naumanni | Lesser Kestrel | |||||||||
2 | tinnunculus | Common Kestrel | |||||||||
3 | newtoni | Madagascar Kestrel | |||||||||
4 | punctatus | Mauritius Kestrel | |||||||||
5 | araeus | Seychelles Kestrel | |||||||||
6 | moluccensis | Spotted Kestrel | |||||||||
7 | cenchroides | Nankeen Kestrel | |||||||||
8 | sparverius | American Kestrel | |||||||||
9 | rupicoloides | Greater Kestrel | |||||||||
10 | alopex | Fox Kestrel | |||||||||
11 | ardosiaceus | Grey Kestrel | |||||||||
12 | dickinsoni | Dickinson’s Kestrel | |||||||||
13 | zoniventris | Banded Kestrel | |||||||||
14 | chicquera | Red-headed Falcon | |||||||||
15 | ruficollis | Red-necked Falcon | |||||||||
16 | vespertinus | Red-footed Falcon | |||||||||
17 | amurensis | Amur Falcon | |||||||||
18 | eleonorae | Eleonora’s Falcon | |||||||||
19 | concolor | Sooty Falcon | |||||||||
20 | columbarius | Merlin | |||||||||
21 | rufigularis | Bat Falcon | |||||||||
22 | deiroleucus | Orange-breasted Falcon | |||||||||
23 | femoralis | Aplomado Falcon | |||||||||
24 | subbuteo | Eurasian Hobby | |||||||||
25 | cuvierii | African Hobby | |||||||||
26 | severus | Oriental Hobby | |||||||||
27 | longipennis | Australian Hobby | |||||||||
28 | novaeseelandiae | New Zealand Falcon | |||||||||
29 | berigora | Brown Falcon | |||||||||
30 | hypoleucos | Grey Falcon | |||||||||
31 | subniger | Black Falcon | |||||||||
32 | biarmicus | Lanner Falcon | |||||||||
33 | jugger | Laggar Falcon | |||||||||
34 | cherrug | Saker Falcon | |||||||||
35 | rusticolus | Gyrfalcon | |||||||||
36 | mexicanus | Prairie Falcon | |||||||||
37 | peregrinus | Peregrine Falcon | |||||||||
38 | fasciinucha | Taita Falcon | |||||||||
No. | Falco Species | Diet |
---|---|---|
1 | naumanni | Invertebrates; vertebrates (lizards, rodents and birds) are less important. Ref. [24] reported, from Sicily in Italy, vertebrates at a total of 72.8% in biomass: 22.6% rodents, 36.0% reptiles, 14.2% birds. |
2 | tinnunculus | Mammals, with birds (fledglings) often seasonally important. In Mediterranean and Africa, lizards and insects may predominate or be very important, even in terms of biomass. |
3 | newtoni | Insects, also takes mammals, reptiles, some birds and frogs. |
4 | punctatus | Lizards, augmented with birds, insects. |
5 | araeus | Lizards, and insects, birds, mice. |
6 | moluccensis | Mammals, lizards, insects, birds. |
7 | cenchroides | Invertebrates, also mammals, birds, reptiles. |
8 | sparverius | Insects (c. 60%) and vertebrates; in N Hemisphere deserts, birds may represent 35% (biomass), mammals 32% and lizards 28%. |
9 | rupicoloides | Arthropods, birds, lizards. |
10 | alopex | Insects, mammals, lizards, birds. |
11 | ardosiaceus | Insects and reptiles. Also birds, rodents, bats, frogs, earthworms, many insects, also crabs. |
12 | dickinsoni | Birds, reptiles, insects, rodents, frogs, solifugids, crabs. |
13 | zoniventris | Lizards, augmented by birds and insects. |
14 | chicquera | Birds, bats. Also some rodents, reptiles, insects. |
15 | ruficollis | As for F. chicquera, of which F. ruficollis was formerly considered a subspecies. |
16 | vespertinus | Insects, wide variety of other invertebrates; chicks may be fed mainly with vertebrates (incl. birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians) |
17 | amurensis | Insects, also birds and some amphibians. Ref. [25] reported, from Mongolia, also mammals. |
18 | eleonorae | Insects, taken mainly outside migration peak and in winter quarters; birds, especially those on autumn migration. Ref. [26] reported, from Crete in Greece, significant proportions of birds and insects during the breeding season; Ref. [27] reported, from Algeria, exceptionally bats, a gastropod and a fish; Ref. [4] reported, from the Aegean archipelago in Greece, also reptiles and bats. |
19 | concolor | While breeding, mainly birds on migration, occasionally bats and other vertebrates. In winter, insects. |
20 | columbarius | Chiefly birds during breeding season; birds, bats, insects at other times, also rodents. |
21 | rufigularis | Bats, birds, insects. Percentage of bats to birds varies greatly between areas. |
22 | deiroleucus | Birds, bats also important. Ref. [28] reported, from 2 sites each in Guatemala and Belize, that, of 105 prey items brought to nests, 90 (85.7%) were birds, and 15 (14.3%) bats. |
23 | femoralis | Birds as staple diet, with some rodents, bats, insects and lizards; insects numerically important. |
24 | subbuteo | Insects, also many birds; bats and lizards locally important. |
25 | cuvierii | Outside breeding season, mainly insects; when breeding, mainly birds. |
26 | severus | Insects, birds, bats. |
27 | longipennis | Birds, bats, insects. |
28 | novaeseelandiae | Birds, sometimes mammals, insects and lizards, rarely carrion. |
29 | berigora | Mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, arthropods, carrion, rarely fish. Some seasonal variation. |
30 | hypoleucos | This study: birds made up 99% (N = 234) of the 237 prey items that could be identified to at least class level. The remaining three items were taken under exceptional circumstances. The 28 hunts recorded during the present study all involved birds. |
31 | subniger | Mammals, birds, insects, carrion; rarely reptiles. |
32 | biarmicus | Birds, augmented by rodents, bats, lizards, insects, and, in deserts, spiders and scorpions. |
33 | jugger | Birds, also wide variety of mammals, reptiles, insects. |
34 | cherrug | Mammals, birds generally less important, lizards locally important; beetles also reported. |
35 | rusticolus | Birds, mammals. Ref. [29] reported, from Greenland, considerable variation in percentage of birds to mammals, with > 75% ptarmigan in 2015 and > 50% squirrel in 2014. |
36 | mexicanus | Mammals, birds. Also reptiles, insects. |
37 | peregrinus | Birds, occasionally mammals (including bats, rabbits and voles), also insects, reptiles, exceptionally fish, two reports of carrion feeding. Ref. [30] reported, from an eyrie in Fiji, predominantly flying-foxes as prey; Ref. [31] reported, from Rankin Inlet in Canada, that Lemming and Arctic Ground Squirrel comprised 33% in prey biomass during two non-peak rodent years; Ref. [32] reported, from southern Africa, that 5 (45%) of 11 successful hunts involved bats; Ref. [33] reported, from coastal beaches in Washington USA, scavenging in 28% of 172 feedings, with insignificant seasonal variation. |
38 | fasciinucha | Birds, also takes a few large insects. Ref. [34] observed, during three single-day visits to a site in Malawi, exclusively hunts that involved insects; Ref. [35] reported, from a nest-site in Uganda, that the species hunts large insects; Ref. [36] recorded, from six nesting events in Zimbabwe, 3 (4.7%) hunts involving insects out of 64 hunts in total. Ref. [37] claimed that Taita Falcons take also bats, and this is, to our knowledge, the only published such claim. |
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Schoenjahn, J.; Pavey, C.R.; Walter, G.H. Has the Australian Endemic Grey Falcon the Most Extreme Dietary Specialization among all Falco Species? Animals 2022, 12, 1582. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12121582
Schoenjahn J, Pavey CR, Walter GH. Has the Australian Endemic Grey Falcon the Most Extreme Dietary Specialization among all Falco Species? Animals. 2022; 12(12):1582. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12121582
Chicago/Turabian StyleSchoenjahn, Jonny, Chris R. Pavey, and Gimme H. Walter. 2022. "Has the Australian Endemic Grey Falcon the Most Extreme Dietary Specialization among all Falco Species?" Animals 12, no. 12: 1582. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12121582