Foraging Ecology

They say “We are what we eat” and this definitely applies to raptors. Many species of raptors are apex predators and occupy trophic niches at the very top of the food chain. Learning more about their diet helps ecologists better understand the important role these species play in ecosystems. Expanding our knowledge of raptor diet can also teach us how susceptible raptors are to various threats. For instance, many small falcons prey on small winged insects and can be devastated by locust spraying. Large eagles, such as Martials, can predate on poultry and other domestic stock and are often killed as a result of this human-wildlife conflict. The Mara Raptor Project is actively engaged in learning about various raptor species diet through placing camera traps at active nests and by using behaviourally classified accelerometry data to ground-truth kills.