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The Wilson Journal of Ornithology 123(3):646-649. 2011 
Carrion-feeding by Barred Owls (Strix varia ) 
Joshua M. Kapfer , 1,4 - 5 David E. Gammon , 1 2 and John D. Groves 3 * 5 
ABSTRACT.—Few documented repons exist that 
describe carrion-feeding by owls. We produce a 
conclusive record of carrion-feeding by Barred Owls 
(Strix varia) from photographs taken with a passive- 
infrared wildlife camera trap bailed with the whole or 
partial carcasses of road-killed mammals (eastern gray 
squirrel [Sciurus carolinensis] and white-tailed deer 
[Odocoileus virginianux]). We recorded multiple pic¬ 
tures in two documented occurrences (one in Oct 2010 
and the other in Dec 2010) over multiple days of a 
Barred Owl visiting both fresh and mostly-decayed 
carcasses. Attempts to lure owls to camera traps through 
use of tainted chicken and turkey meat were unsuc¬ 
cessful. and no additional owl pictures were obtained 
from unbaited cameras throughout 2010. Received 21 
January 2011. Accepted 19 March 2011. 
Scavenging, or carrion-feeding, often has a key- 
role in ecosystems (DeVault et al. 2003. Selva and 
Fortuna 2007). Some birds, such as New World 
and Old World vultures, specialize on carrion¬ 
feeding (Houston 1979. Hiraldo et al. 1991). 
Many other predator species also scavenge to a 
lesser extent (DeVault ct al. 2003). This interest¬ 
ing foraging behavior remains poorly documented 
for most predator species, as common research 
1 Departments of Environmental Studies and Biology. 
Campus Box 2015. Elon University. Elon, NC 27244, USA. 
2 Department of Biology. Campus Box 2625. Elon 
University, Elon. NC 27244, USA. 
'North Carolinu Zoological Park. 4401 Zoo Parkway 
Asheboro. NC 27205. USA. 
Department of Biological Sciences. University of 
Wisconsin-Whitewater, Whitewater, WI 53190. USA. 
5 Corresponding author: c-mail: kapferj@uww.edu 
methods for diet analysis make it difficult to 
ascertain if prey was killed or scavenged (DeVault 
et al. 2003). Work has been done to assess carcass 
removal rates by scavengers in agricultural and 
natural habitats (e.g., Balcomb 1986. Linz et al. 
1998. Kostecke et al. 2001. DeVault and Rhodes 
2002. Prosser et al. 2008, Ponce et al. 2010). but 
researchers rarely track the fates of specific 
carcasses to know which species are responsible 
lor scavenging (but see Kostecke et al. 2001. 
DeVault and Rhodes 2002). 
Scavenging among owls has been documented 
for only a handful of species (Eckert and Karalus 
1987, Voous 1988, Duncan and Duncan 1998. 
Diaz-Ruiz et al. 2009), and usually without much 
detail. The Birds of North America specio 
accounts report carrion-feeding for only two ot 
19 species of North American owls (Northern 
Hawk Owl [Surnia ulula], Duncan and Duncan 
1998; Great Homed Owl [Bubo virginianusl 
Houston et al. 1998), and long-term meat storage 
is reported lor 18 of these species (Poole 2005 1 
The risk of disease from eating rotten meat should 
be similar whether or not the meat was killed b> 
the foraging owl. Given that long-term meat 
storage seems to be the rule among owls, w-hy 
should so few reports exist for carrion-feeding in 
owls? 
Carrion-feeding may present additional risks 
not associated with food-storage, such as compe¬ 
tition with other scavengers. Owls use visual and 
auditory cues while hunting, which animal 
carcasses do not exhibit, and scavenging may be 
