La Tour du Valat

Institut de recherche pour la conservation des zones humides méditerranéennes

Titre :	Predation on bats by Great Kiskadees
Auteurs :	Erich Fischer, Auteur ; Roberto L. Munin, Auteur ; Jose M. Longo, Auteur ; Wagner Fischer, Auteur ; Paulo R. de Souza, Auteur
Type de document :	Article
Dans :	Journal of Field Ornithology (81(1) MAR 2010)
Article en page(s) :	17-20
Langues:	Anglais
Résumé :	Great Kiskadees (Pitangus sulphuratus) are found in a variety of habitats from Argentina north to the United States and are the most generalist tyrant flycatcher in both foraging behavior and food habits. These kiskadees are known to occasionally prey on small vertebrates, but, to our knowledge, bats have never been reported as a prey item. We observed a breeding pair of Great Kiskadees preying on bats (Myotis spp.) at the field station Base de Estudos do Pantanal (BEP) in the southern Pantanal, Brazil. At BEP, there are fissures under the building's floor slabs that allow two species of bats, black myotis (Myotis nigricans) and silver-tipped myotis (M. albescens), to access internal galleries and use them as day roosts. We found that bats, insects, and fruits were the most common food items fed to nestlings by adult kiskadees. Bats (N = 10) were captured when kiskadees landed on ground below a building, looked up through a fissure, and then reached through the fissure and captured a bat in their bill. On one occasion, a kiskadee flew from a perch and captured a bat in flight. Our observations provide further evidence of the opportunistic feeding behavior of Great Kiskadees.

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