Prey susceptibilities,prey utilization and variable attack efficiencies of Ural owls

Summary To investigate the factors that influence prey utilization among predators with active prey, three series of experiments were performed in which Ural owls (Strix uralensis) searched for and attacked three prey species of wild mice, Microtus montebelli, Apodemus speciosus, and A. argenteus, in a large flight cage. Over the whole study, owls attacked mice about ten times a night. The number of attacks on each prey species did not differ from that predicted by a random attack model. M. montebelli was taken more than either Apodemus species. Prey utilization appears to be influenced by prey susceptibilities only and it is unlikely that prey selection by the owls affected prey utilization patterns. Under the experimental conditions, random attack is predicted by optimal foraging theory. However, random attack may be explained just as well by the inability of the owl to discriminate prey type. The owls, energy gain was adjusted not by alteration in the number of attacks on a prey species but rather by alteration in the capture success between experiments. Capture success increased in poor food conditions for the same prey species. This flexibility in capture success has not been considered in the assumptions of optimal foraging theory. In conventional optimal foraging theory, the probability of capture success is implicitly assumed as constant and unity. We suggest that this assumption is inadequate to understand the foraging behavior of owls.