FORAGING HABITAT SELECTION BY AMERICAN BARN OWLS IN VINEYARD LANDSCAPES

Kevin Garcia Lopez; Graduate Student at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo; kgarc177@calpoly.edu; Tim Bean, Matthew Johnson

The American Barn Owl (Tyto furcata) is a medium-sized raptor commonly found in agricultural landscapes where it uses nest boxes for reproduction and serves as a focal species for integrated pest management. Barn owl research in agroecosystems has focused on nest box occupancy metrics, prey and habitat selection. However, further research is needed to understand foraging habitat selection at fine spatial and temporal scales. To further advance our understanding of habitat use, we deployed GPS-loggers (1-Hz) equipped with accelerometers (50-Hz) on adult nesting owls (n=26) to track foraging behavior during the breeding season in vineyards in San Luis Obispo, California. We used a combination of fine-scale positioning and behavioral data to identify foraging flights and strike locations. We conducted microhabitat surveys at strike locations, used, and available points to evaluate the influence of habitat composition on foraging habitat selection. Preliminarily, barn owls appeared to strike areas with lower crop height, but greater understory percent cover. These results can help winegrowers understand how barn owls use vineyard landscapes during the breeding season and also advance our knowledge on foraging behavior at fine spatial and temporal scales.

Natural History of Birds 
Thursday 3:05 PM
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