In:
Revue d'Écologie (La Terre et La Vie), PERSEE Program, Vol. 55, No. 4 ( 2000), p. 361-381
Kurzfassung:
Cattle Egrets (Bubulcus ibis) living in the Sébaou valley, Kabylia, Algeria, have a diet based mainly on insects, which represent 97. 1 % of food items and 57.2 % of ingested biomass, calculated after 5 999 prey items recovered from 150 rejection pellets collected in three different colonies. Orthopteran insects in particular account for 47.3 % of the ingested biomass. Vertebrates are few in terms of preys (1.5 %), but represent 42.5 % of the ingested biomass. They seem to be captured when the Egrets get an opportunity to do so, i.e. after crossings of agricultural engines. Variations in the diet of Cattle Egrets from one colony to the other, as well as variation according to months seem to be correlated to the local availability and phenology of preys. Cattle Egrets in one region visit various biotopes according to prey availability and their own food requirements. In the Sébaou valley as well as at other places, Cattle Egrets appear to be opportunist feeders which, when preys are abundant, choose the ones fitting best their nutritional requirements, but which can make use of the remaining ones when food becomes scarce. This ability may partly explain the Cattle Egret’s recent, successful range extension in Algeria.
Materialart:
Online-Ressource
ISSN:
0249-7395
DOI:
10.3406/revec.2000.2340
Sprache:
Französisch
Verlag:
PERSEE Program
Publikationsdatum:
2000
ZDB Id:
2922565-6
SSG:
12
