What Do We Know about the Diet of Ecuadorian Owls?

Ecuador territory barely surpasses 28 million hectares, but it is home to 29 owl species, which represent 62% of all owl species in South America. Knowledge of the trophic ecology of owls is fundamental for understanding how they correlate with their environment, which organisms they prey upon, and to which extent they are beneficial for humans’ health. Although publications in this field have grown in Ecuador in recent years, background information is still deficient. At present, the diet of a handful of species has been studied in this Andean country, and for a few other species, there is only anecdotal information, such as stomach contents of specimens, held in scientific collections. In this chapter, we review knowledge about the diet of owl species occurring in Ecuador and provide guidelines for the study of pellets with the aim of motivating more research in this field.