Dietary of Merlin Falco columbarius Linnaeus at winter foraging grounds in Western India

The Merlin (Falco columbarius-Lest Concern) is a small-sized falcon widely distributed across Europe, Asia, and North America. Merlin falcons are winter visitors in north India. It occurs from an arid area from Gujarat to far northeast Arunachal Pradesh. Here, we present the details of Merlin's diet on winter foraging grounds in Gujarat and Rajasthan, Western India, based on a combination of direct observationsfrom ۲۰۰۹ to ۲۰۲۳ and secondary data extracted from various social platforms. A total of ۹۹ hunting events of Merlin with their prey bird were collected from the study areas, including ۳۹ data generated from direct observation of falcon hunting and ۶۰ images of falcons with prey items acquired from various electronic media. The highest ۷۲ falcon hunting events were noted from Gujarat, and the lowest ۲۸ hunting observations were noted from Rajasthan.

کلیدواژه ها:

Feeding habit ، Raptors ، predation ،  Gujarat ، Rajasthan