Diet of Black-shouldered Kite Elanus caeruleus in a farmland area near Algiers, Algeria

Abstract

The diet of the Black-shouldered Kite Elanus caeruleus was analysed in a recently colonised area in Meftah, south-eastern Algiers, Algeria. The diet was determined by analysing 144 pellets. Our data showed that the diet was dominated by rodents with Algerian mouse Mus spretus comprising between 61% and 77% of the diet. Based on relative biomass, rodents were the main prey species, comprising 88.1% of the diet in 2006, 68.4% in 2007 and 52.0% in 2008. Birds were the second-most important prey, comprising as much as 43.4% of the diet in 2008. The Algerian mouse was the major prey species both in spring (60.0% in 2007) and in summer (80.0% in 2006).