Diet of nestling Barn Swallows <Emphasis Type="Italic">Hirundo rustica</Emphasis> in rural areas of Poland |
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Authors: | Grzegorz Orłowski Jerzy Karg |
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Institution: | (1) Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML), Leiden University, Postbus 9518, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands;(2) Present address: Vogelbescherming Nederland, Postbus 925, 3700 AX Zeist, The Netherlands |
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Abstract: | Analysis of faecal sacs of nestling Barn Swallows Hirundo rustica from 52 breeding colonies located within fifteen spatially-separated villages in Poland has revealed that the basic component
of the diet was Coleoptera (56.1% of all identified prey items), followed by Hymenoptera (24.1%), Diptera (16.1%) and Hemiptera
(3.3%). The average mass of all prey items with known weight amounted to 3.40 mg (95% CL, 3.16–3.63 mg; median=0.49 mg) dry
weight. Coleopterans associated with dung and manure jointly made up 23.5% of the number and 24.3% of the total biomass of
all representatives of the order. Statistically significant negative relationships between the average weight of prey and
number of prey found in 52 analyzed breeding sites suggest a particular need for Barn Swallows to find larger-bodied prey
rather than to exploit the local abundance of smaller prey. The high percentage of Coleoptera in the diet of nestling Barn
Swallows probably results from extensive or traditional farm management based on rules of organic farming in agricultural
areas of central Europe, mainly commonly used organic fertilizers, and suggests the importance of these insects as a more
easily accessible and larger-bodied prey in comparison to some small Diptera or Hymenoptera. We believe that a large number
of randomly collected faecal samples from tens of breeding sites allow us to precisely describe variation in the diet of the
Barn Swallow. Our work has great importance for documenting of the food composition of the Barn Swallow in traditional European
countrysides, i.e. under environmental and agricultural conditions which, as a result of transformations of the system of farming, ceased to
exist in the western and northern part of this continent. |
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