Comportamento de caça da coruja buraqueira, Athene cunicularia (Molina, 1782) (Aves: Strigiformes) em ambiente urbano em Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brasil

Abstract

The burrowing-owl, Athene cunicularia (Molina, 1782) has a wide distribution, which extends from western North America to southern South America. They are an opportunistic plunderer species preying on insects and small mammals. Data on hunting tactics of this specie are scarce in the literature. Here, the general and hunting behaviors of the species are described in an urban environment, a university campus, in the city of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais state, Brazil. An adult male of A. cunicularia had its behavior studied during 14 days, in July 2005, totaling 20 hours of systematic observations using the instantaneous focal-animal method. The observations were done using 10x50 binoculars, between 06:00 and 09:00 and after 16:00, from a minimal distance of 25 m. We identified and described five behavioral categories: self-maintenance, locomotion, hunting, non-agonistic social and alert. No difference was found between behaviors displayed during morning and afternoon periods. Four hunting strategies displayed by A. cunicularia were identified (hunting in soil, air hunting, perch to soil hunting and hover flight hunting) but no difference between their frequencies was found. These behaviors were observed only after 18:00. These non-significant patterns suggest that the oportunistic hunting behavior of the birds of prey (“sit-and-wait”) and the active search hunting patterns are alternated according to opportunity, identification and capture of the prey and the place of capture.