Dow et al. • AVIAN DIET OF BURMESE PYTHONS IN THE EVERGLADES 
129 
TABLE 2. Eighty-nine individual birds representing nine avian Orders and 25 species consumed by Burmese pythons 
in Everglades National Park, Florida, USA. Birds were identified in 25% of the 343 pythons collected during -003^ • 
Python field numbers shown in bold indicate multiple bird species consumed by one snake. Numbers in parentheses % of 
Order in diet rounded to nearest decimal point. _ 
Order 
Species 
Number of individual birds 
Python field number 
Podicipediformes (9) Pied-billed Grebe ( Podilymbus podiceps) 
Podicipedidae (unidentified species) 
Pelecaniformes (3) Magnificent Frigatebird ( Fregata rmgnificens) 
Anhinga ( Anhinga anhinga ) 
Ciconiiformes (18) Great Blue Heron ( Ardea hewdicis) 
Great Egret (A. alba) 
Snowy Egret ( Egretta thula) 
Little Blue Heron ( E . caerulea) 
White Ibis ( Eudocimus albus ) 
Wood Stork ( Mycteria americana ) 
Ardeidae (unidentified species) 
Threskiomithidae (unidentified species) 
Northern Pintail ( Anas acuta) 
Blue-winged Teal (A. discors) 
Domestic Duck (A. platyrhychos domesticus) 
Anatidae (unidentified species) 
Domestic Chicken ( Gall us gallus domesticus ) 
Purple Gallinule {Porphyria martinica) 
Common Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) 
American Coot ( Fulica americana) 
Clapper Rail (Rallus longirostris) 
King Rail (R. elegans) 
Virginia Rail (R. limicola) 
Sora ( Porzana Carolina) 
Limpkin (Aramus guarauna) 
Rallidae (unidentified species) 
Charadriiformes (1) Whimbrel ( Numenius phaeopus) 
Columbiformes (1) Columbidae (species unidentified) 
Passeriformes (5) House Wren ( Troglodytes aedon) 
Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus ) 
Eastern Meadowlark (Sturnella. magna) 
Passerine (unidentified species) 
Aves (unidentified species) 
Anseriformes (7) 
Galliformes (2) 
Gruiformes (36) 
AVES (18) 
Totals 
7 
1 
1 
2 
1 
1 
1 
1 
7 
1 
2 
2 
1 
1 
1 
3 
2 
2 
1 
3 
2 
4 
1 
2 
7 
10 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
16 
89 
104,124,202,339,364,740,846 
504 
744 
128,844 
547 
491 
484 
327 
113,168,492,580,760,887,918 
539 
503,552 
177,804 
1141 
310 
731 
128,513,870 
653,731 
509,1158 
451 
325,546,553 
379,781 
242,362,437,478 
163 
500,535 
129,363,373,460,507,514,551 
120,196,316,341,369,512,549, 
567,568,754 
451 
653 
77 
85 
603 
494 
283,374,469,508,510,515,519, 
528,538,555,561,563,727, 
756,854,871 
85 
DISCUSSION 
Identification of prey remains from fragmen¬ 
tary evidence is vital to help document the diets of 
invasive predators. Our analysis demonstrates that 
ev en if the dietary material was heavily digested 
nnd in poor condition, we were able to provide 
species-level identifications for many of the 
samples. Most species-level identifications were 
based on the presence of whole feathers or large 
fragments of feathers and bone which allowed 
e xact morphological comparison. This allows 
high confidence in the species-level identifica¬ 
tions, and microscopic analysis allowed us to 
obtain Family-level identification of gut samples 
that did not contain sufficient macroscopic 
material for whole feather/bone comparison. 
Seventeen of the samples noted as heavily 
digested contained large portions of avian feet, 
partial bills and skulls that assisted greatly with 
species identifications; these anatomical parts 
apparently are the last to be processed within 
the pythons’ digestive system. 
The Rallidae (rails and allies) was the group 
most heavily consumed by Burmese pythons in 
ENP. The threat of this unfamiliar predator to rails 
