England, Daniel R.

McDaniel, V. Rick

Steward, Tim W.

Wilhide, J. D.

English

ScholarWorks@UARK

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of ScienceVolume 42 Article 381988Mammalian Species Recovered from a Study ofBarn Owl, Tyto alba, Pellets from SouthwesternArkansasTim W. StewardArkansas State UniversityJ. D. WilhideArkansas State UniversityV. Rick McDanielArkansas State UniversityDaniel R. EnglandSouthern Arkansas UniversityFollow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaasPart of the Ornithology Commons, and the Population Biology CommonsThis article is available for use under the Creative Commons license: Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-ND 4.0). Users are able toread, download, copy, print, distribute, search, link to the full texts of these articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking priorpermission from the publisher or the author.This General Note is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UARK. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of the ArkansasAcademy of Science by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks@UARK. For more information, please contact scholar@uark.edu, ccmiddle@uark.edu.Recommended CitationSteward, Tim W.; Wilhide, J. D.; McDaniel, V. Rick; and England, Daniel R. (1988) "Mammalian Species Recovered from a Study ofBarn Owl, Tyto alba, Pellets from Southwestern Arkansas," Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science: Vol. 42 , Article 38.Available at: http://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaas/vol42/iss1/38General Notesbecome. Forty years ago Shepherd had been feeding hummingbirds from tiny glass medicine vials painted red with fingernail polish. Then he talkedhis father into mail-ordering from Massachusetts some hand-blown glass feeders that held about 12 cc. ofsugar water each. Everybody who knewhim then remembers this, because at the time, they knew no one else in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, who fed hummingbirds.InJanuary of this year Shepherd bought a plastic hummingbird feeder from a Little Rock florist. Inmid-winter that one shop had in stockat least fourmodels ofhummingbird feeders of various designs and capacities. Itis no longer unusual to see a hummingbird feeder in an Arkansasgarden. There must be thousands of them! Significantly, every one of the hummingbirds seen in Arkansas during the winter months and everyone identified as something other than a Ruby-throated Hummingbird was frequenting a feeder (AAS files). Not only are hummingbirds easierto see well (and thus to identify to species) when they drink repeatedly from a feeder placed near a window, but, more important for the bird,a well stocked feeder represents the only chance for a belated hummingbird to survive more than a day or two. A hard freeze kills the last nectar-producing flowers and, along with them, any flyinginsects and flower-dwelling arthropods that may have been supplementing the diet of nectar.This paper has benefited greatly from thoughtful comments offered by A. Marguerite Baumgartner, Nancy L. Newfield, and Charles R.Preston, who reviewed earlier versions of it. We thank them sincerely.LITERATURE CITEDAMERICANORNITHOLOGISTS' UNION. 1983. Check-list ofNorthAmerican birds, 6th ed. Amer. Ornith. Union, xxix +877 pp.CONWAY, A.E., and S. R. DRENNAN. 1979. Rufous hummingbirdsin eastern North America. Amer. Birds 33:130-132.JAMES, D. A., and J. C. NEAL. 1986. Arkansas birds. Univ.Arkansas Press, Fayetteville, xii +402 pp.PURRINGTON, R. D. 1988. The autumn migration: Central SouthernRegion. Amer. Birds 42:85-92.ROBERSON, D. 1986. Ninth report of the California bird recordscommittee. Western Birds 17:49-77.STILES, F. G. 1972. Age and sex determination in Rufous and AllenHummingbirds. Condor 74:25-32.VACIN, V. J. 1969. Black-chinned Hummingbird at Silver Lake,near Oklahoma City. Bull. Okla. Ornithol. Soc. 2:14-15.WILLIAMSHEPHERD', JOSEPH NEAL1,THOMAS FOTP, and DOUGLAS JAMES1; 'Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission, Suite 200,The Heritage Center, 225 East Markham, LittleRock, AR 72201; department ofZoology, University ofArkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701.MAMMALIANSPECIES RECOVERED FROM A STUDY OF BARN OWL,TYTO ALBA,PELLETS FROM SOUTHWESTERN ARKANSASThe barn owl, Tyto alba, has been historically a common raptor in Arkansas and one might expect a wealth of data available on the foodhabits of this owl. While studies have been conducted in other areas of the country (Banks, R. C, Auk 82:506, 1965; Jemison, E. S. and R. S.Chabreck, Wilson Bull. 74(l):95-96, 1962; and Parmalee, P. W., Auk 71:469-470, 1954), in Arkansas only one other study has been reported (Paige,K. N., C. T. McAllister, and C. R. Tumlison, Proc. Ark. Acad. Sci. 33:88-89, 1979).A. C. Bent (1937), in his book LifeHistories ofNorth American Birds OfPrey, relates that the barn owl is a very beneficial predator inthat itconsumes large numbers of harmful rodents. He also indicates that its choice of prey is dependent upon those items available in its forage range.Our study began in April 1987, when an owl roost was discovered in an abandoned cotton gin in Ozan, Hempstead County. The roost islocated on the edge of a small community in an area composed mostly of farm land with scattered stands of hardwood trees.Table 1. Frequency of occurrence (Percentage of occurrence) of prey items recovered from barn owl pellets.Species May June July Aug. Sep. Oct . Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. TotalMicrotu3Pinetorum 6(33.3) 37(54.4) 36(53.0) 6(19.4) 2(20.0) 1(11.1) 2(10.0) 2(9.1) 5(18.5) 16(32.0) 49(60.5) 162(40.1)hispTdus 8(44.4) 19(27.9) 16(23.5) 16(51.6) 5(50.0) 8(88.9) 15(75.0) 16(72.7) 17(63.0) 14(28.0) 11(13.6) 145(35.9)Rattua rattus- 5(7.4) 10(14.7) 5(16.1) 1(10.0)-1(5.0) 1(4.5) 1(3.7) - 2(2.5) 26(6.4)Oryzomyspaluatris 3(16.7) 1(1.5) 1(1.4) 4(12.9) 1(10.0)-2(9.1) 4(14.8) 4(8.0) 4(4.9) 24(5.9)Reithrodontomyafulvescens- -2(2.9) - 1(4.5)-6(12.0) 8(9.9) 17(4.2)Reithrodontomy3humulis 1(5.6)- -----2(4.0) 1(1.2) 4(1.0)Rei throdontomys3p._________2(4.0) - 2(0.5)aca"olinensi3 - 4(5.9) 1(1.4) ------ 1(2.0) 4(4.9) 10(2.8)Cryptotisparva 1(1.5)-1(2.0) 2(2.5) 4(1.0)Notiosorexcrawfordi 1(1.4)-1(10.0) - 2(0.5)Ochrotomysnuttalli_________2(4.0) - 2(0.5)Mus musculus- - ~ " ~ " 1(5.0)- - - 1(0.2)Unknowns = 1(1.5) 1(1.4) =- = 1(5.0) = = 2(4.0) 5(1.2)Total 18 68 68 31 10 9 20 22 27 50 81 404Proceedings Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol. 42, 1988 115115Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol. 42 [1988], Art. 38Published by Arkansas Academy of Science, 1988116 Proceedings Arkansas Academy off Science, Vol. 42, 1988Arkansas Academy off ScienceInitially,an area ofconcrete floorapproximately 72 sq m was cleared ofall soil, litter and remains. The process involved removing and transportingto the laboratory approximately 1500 lbs (680 kg) of material for a later study (not reported here). This bulk material constituted an initial qualitativesample ofprey items. From this cleared area, during the first week ofeach month, quantitative samples were collected. Allpellets and other remainsdeposited in the cleared area were collected and shipped to Arkansas State University. Once at ASU, the pellets were dried and carefully dissectedand the contents identified using cranial and dental morphology. Specimens were then tagged, cataloged and permanently deposited in the Museumof Recent Mammals at ASU.Eleven months of quantitative samples were available for this study. Analysis of these samples yielded 404 specimens comprising eleven speciesof mammals (9 additional specimens identified as avian were not considered in this report). The results are presented in Table 1.Interestingly, for every month Microtus pinetorum and Sigmodon hispidus were the most numerous prey items taken. M.pinetorum wastaken in greatest numbers during the months of June, July, February and March. The dominance of these two species in the pellets indicates (asdo the Reithrodontomys taken) that the owl(s) at this site forage(s) extensively over the prairie-like fields north and east ofthe cotton gin. Itappearsthat the owl(s) forage(s) little, ifat all, within the town of Ozan.Another interesting feature of the data is the marked increase in the number of specimens taken during June, July, February and March.The large number of items, as well as the greater diversity of prey items, taken during summer months is attributable to the fact that young werepresent in the roost increasing the need for food during this period. The increased number and diversity of prey taken during the month of Marchlikely is attributable to greater activity of the prey in response to the improved weather of early spring. February's increase is likely attributableto the documented unseasonably warm weather this particular year which probably increased the noctural activity and therefore the availabilityof these prey species.This study has resulted in the collection of eleven mammalian county records, one of which (Notiosorex crawfordi) represents a significantextension of the presently reported range. With the exception of the range extension, all of the species collected during this study have reportedranges which include this county; however, Reithrodontomys fulvescens is the only species encountered that does not represent a new documentedspecies for Hempstead County. Notiosorex crawfordi was collected from the roost on two different occasions, indicating that this species is notsimply a spurious report for Hempstead County. Previously the onlyknown specimens ofNotiosorex crawfordi were fromextreme northwest Arkansas(Sealander, J. A., A Guide to Arkansas Mammals, p. 48, 1969). Our records place this species a considerable distance south and/or east of itspreviously acnowledged range.We would like to express our appreciation to the Southern Arkansas University Research Committee for providing funds to aidin this study.T. W. STEWARD',/. D. WILHIDE1, V. RICKMcDANIEV,and DANIELR. ENGLAND1,'Department ofBiological Science, Arkansas StateUniversity, State University, AR 72467; 2Department ofBiology, Southern Arkansas University, Magnolia, AR 71753.116Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol. 42 [1988], Art. 38http://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaas/vol42/iss1/38

Mammalian Species Recovered from a Study of Barn Owl, Tyto alba, Pellets from Southwestern Arkansas

UARK (University of Arkansas )

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science Volume 42 Article 38 1988 Mammalian Species Recovered from a Study of Barn Owl, Tyto alba, Pellets from Southwestern Arkansas Tim W. Steward Arkansas State University J. D. Wilhide Arkansas State University V. Rick McDaniel Arkansas State University Daniel R. England Southern Arkansas University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaas  Part of the Ornithology Commons, and the Population Biology Commons Recommended Citation Steward, Tim W.; Wilhide, J. D.; McDaniel, V. Rick; and England, Daniel R. (1988) "Mammalian Species Recovered from a Study of Barn Owl, Tyto alba, Pellets from Southwestern Arkansas," Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science: Vol. 42 , Article 38. Available at: https://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaas/vol42/iss1/38 This article is available for use under the Creative Commons license: Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-ND 4.0). Users are able to read, download, copy, print, distribute, search, link to the full texts of these articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This General Note is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UARK. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks@UARK. For more information, please contact scholar@uark.edu. General Notesbecome. Forty years ago Shepherd had been feeding hummingbirds from tiny glass medicine vials painted red with fingernail polish. Then he talkedhis father into mail-ordering from Massachusetts some hand-blown glass feeders that held about 12 cc. ofsugar water each. Everybody who knewhim then remembers this, because at the time, they knew no one else in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, who fed hummingbirds.InJanuary of this year Shepherd bought a plastic hummingbird feeder from a Little Rock florist. Inmid-winter that one shop had in stockat least fourmodels ofhummingbird feeders of various designs and capacities. Itis no longer unusual to see a hummingbird feeder in an Arkansasgarden. There must be thousands of them! Significantly, every one of the hummingbirds seen in Arkansas during the winter months and everyone identified as something other than a Ruby-throated Hummingbird was frequenting a feeder (AAS files). Not only are hummingbirds easierto see well (and thus to identify to species) when they drink repeatedly from a feeder placed near a window, but, more important for the bird,a well stocked feeder represents the only chance for a belated hummingbird to survive more than a day or two. A hard freeze kills the last nectar-producing flowers and, along with them, any flyinginsects and flower-dwelling arthropods that may have been supplementing the diet of nectar.This paper has benefited greatly from thoughtful comments offered by A. Marguerite Baumgartner, Nancy L. Newfield, and Charles R.Preston, who reviewed earlier versions of it. We thank them sincerely.LITERATURE CITEDAMERICANORNITHOLOGISTS' UNION. 1983. Check-list ofNorthAmerican birds, 6th ed. Amer. Ornith. Union, xxix +877 pp.CONWAY, A.E., and S. R. DRENNAN. 1979. Rufous hummingbirdsin eastern North America. Amer. Birds 33:130-132.JAMES, D. A., and J. C. NEAL. 1986. Arkansas birds. Univ.Arkansas Press, Fayetteville, xii +402 pp.PURRINGTON, R. D. 1988. The autumn migration: Central SouthernRegion. Amer. Birds 42:85-92.ROBERSON, D. 1986. Ninth report of the California bird recordscommittee. Western Birds 17:49-77.STILES, F. G. 1972. Age and sex determination in Rufous and AllenHummingbirds. Condor 74:25-32.VACIN, V. J. 1969. Black-chinned Hummingbird at Silver Lake,near Oklahoma City. Bull. Okla. Ornithol. Soc. 2:14-15.WILLIAMSHEPHERD', JOSEPH NEAL1,THOMAS FOTP, and DOUGLAS JAMES1; 'Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission, Suite 200,The Heritage Center, 225 East Markham, LittleRock, AR 72201; department ofZoology, University ofArkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701.MAMMALIANSPECIES RECOVERED FROM A STUDY OF BARN OWL,TYTO ALBA,PELLETS FROM SOUTHWESTERN ARKANSASThe barn owl, Tyto alba, has been historically a common raptor in Arkansas and one might expect a wealth of data available on the foodhabits of this owl. While studies have been conducted in other areas of the country (Banks, R. C, Auk 82:506, 1965; Jemison, E. S. and R. S.Chabreck, Wilson Bull. 74(l):95-96, 1962; and Parmalee, P. W., Auk 71:469-470, 1954), in Arkansas only one other study has been reported (Paige,K. N., C. T. McAllister, and C. R. Tumlison, Proc. Ark. Acad. Sci. 33:88-89, 1979).A. C. Bent (1937), in his book LifeHistories ofNorth American Birds OfPrey, relates that the barn owl is a very beneficial predator inthat itconsumes large numbers of harmful rodents. He also indicates that its choice of prey is dependent upon those items available in its forage range.Our study began in April 1987, when an owl roost was discovered in an abandoned cotton gin in Ozan, Hempstead County. The roost islocated on the edge of a small community in an area composed mostly of farm land with scattered stands of hardwood trees.Table 1. Frequency of occurrence (Percentage of occurrence) of prey items recovered from barn owl pellets.Species May June July Aug. Sep. Oct . Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. TotalMicrotu3Pinetorum 6(33.3) 37(54.4) 36(53.0) 6(19.4) 2(20.0) 1(11.1) 2(10.0) 2(9.1) 5(18.5) 16(32.0) 49(60.5) 162(40.1)hispTdus 8(44.4) 19(27.9) 16(23.5) 16(51.6) 5(50.0) 8(88.9) 15(75.0) 16(72.7) 17(63.0) 14(28.0) 11(13.6) 145(35.9)Rattua rattus-5(7.4) 10(14.7) 5(16.1) 1(10.0)-1(5.0) 1(4.5) 1(3.7)-2(2.5) 26(6.4)Oryzomyspaluatris 3(16.7) 1(1.5) 1(1.4) 4(12.9) 1(10.0)-2(9.1) 4(14.8) 4(8.0) 4(4.9) 24(5.9)Reithrodontomyafulvescens- -2(2.9)- 1(4.5) - 6(12.0) 8(9.9) 17(4.2)Reithrodontomy3humulis 1(5.6)- -----2(4.0) 1(1.2) 4(1.0)Rei throdontomys3p._________2(4.0)-2(0.5)aca"olinensi3 - 4(5.9) 1(1.4) ------ 1(2.0) 4(4.9) 10(2.8)Cryptotisparva 1(1.5)-1(2.0) 2(2.5) 4(1.0)Notiosorexcrawfordi 1(1.4)-1(10.0)-2(0.5)Ochrotomysnuttalli_________2(4.0) - 2(0.5)Mus musculus- - ~ " ~ " 1(5.0)- - - 1(0.2)Unknowns = 1(1.5) 1(1.4) = - = 1(5.0) = = 2(4.0) 5(1.2)Total 18 68 68 31 10 9 20 22 27 50 81 404Proceedings Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol. 42, 1988 115115Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol. 42 [1988], Art. 38Published by Arkansas Academy of Science, 1988116 Proceedings Arkansas Academy off Science, Vol. 42, 1988Arkansas Academy off ScienceInitially,an area ofconcrete floorapproximately 72 sq m was cleared ofall soil, litter and remains. The process involved removing and transportingto the laboratory approximately 1500 lbs (680 kg) of material for a later study (not reported here). This bulk material constituted an initial qualitativesample ofprey items. From this cleared area, during the first week ofeach month, quantitative samples were collected. Allpellets and other remainsdeposited in the cleared area were collected and shipped to Arkansas State University. Once at ASU, the pellets were dried and carefully dissectedand the contents identified using cranial and dental morphology. Specimens were then tagged, cataloged and permanently deposited in the Museumof Recent Mammals at ASU.Eleven months of quantitative samples were available for this study. Analysis of these samples yielded 404 specimens comprising eleven speciesof mammals (9 additional specimens identified as avian were not considered in this report). The results are presented in Table 1.Interestingly, for every month Microtus pinetorum and Sigmodon hispidus were the most numerous prey items taken. M.pinetorum wastaken in greatest numbers during the months of June, July, February and March. The dominance of these two species in the pellets indicates (asdo the Reithrodontomys taken) that the owl(s) at this site forage(s) extensively over the prairie-like fields north and east ofthe cotton gin. Itappearsthat the owl(s) forage(s) little, ifat all, within the town of Ozan.Another interesting feature of the data is the marked increase in the number of specimens taken during June, July, February and March.The large number of items, as well as the greater diversity of prey items, taken during summer months is attributable to the fact that young werepresent in the roost increasing the need for food during this period. The increased number and diversity of prey taken during the month of Marchlikely is attributable to greater activity of the prey in response to the improved weather of early spring. February's increase is likely attributableto the documented unseasonably warm weather this particular year which probably increased the noctural activity and therefore the availabilityof these prey species.This study has resulted in the collection of eleven mammalian county records, one of which (Notiosorex crawfordi) represents a significantextension of the presently reported range. With the exception of the range extension, all of the species collected during this study have reportedranges which include this county; however, Reithrodontomys fulvescens is the only species encountered that does not represent a new documentedspecies for Hempstead County. Notiosorex crawfordi was collected from the roost on two different occasions, indicating that this species is notsimply a spurious report for Hempstead County. Previously the onlyknown specimens ofNotiosorex crawfordi were fromextreme northwest Arkansas(Sealander, J. A., A Guide to Arkansas Mammals, p. 48, 1969). Our records place this species a considerable distance south and/or east of itspreviously acnowledged range.We would like to express our appreciation to the Southern Arkansas University Research Committee for providing funds to aidin this study.T. W. STEWARD',/. D. WILHIDE1, V. RICKMcDANIEV,and DANIELR. ENGLAND1,'Department ofBiological Science, Arkansas StateUniversity, State University, AR 72467; 2Department ofBiology, Southern Arkansas University, Magnolia, AR 71753.116Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol. 42 [1988], Art. 38https://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaas/vol42/iss1/38

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Mammalian Species Recovered from a Study of Barn Owl, Tyto alba, Pellets from Southwestern Arkansas

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