Hello Sidi; Based on my own experience doing exactly what you are interested in, I have a couple of suggestions.

1. Make keys for EACH owl species you are interested in. Otherwise the key quickly becomes unmanageable.

2. I needed access to a complete reference collection of skeletal material of the potential prey for the area.

3. Limit the geographical area of interest. The diet of many owls vary geographically as do the potential prey.

4. Some owls, small ones particularly, prey heavily on insects. If they are included in your project, you'll need to make keys for insect parts.

Those were the main sticking points when I first started my project. Best regards, Jim Des Lauriers

Hi,

There is no comprehensive ID guide (or set of keys) for such a region. However, there are several ID guides in which one may find good quality skull drawings (sometimes characteristic limb bones) for many species. So, you need to build up a library for the whole region.

What I used for identifying prey remains from North African owls (some overlap with the Middle East, too):

Hufnagl, E., Craig-Bennett, A., & Van Weerd, E. (1972). Libyan mammals (Vol. 3). Cambridge, United Kingdom: Oleander Press.

Kowalski, K, & B. Rzebik-Kowalska. "Mammals of Algeria." (1991).

Osborn, D. J., & Helmy, I. (1980). The contemporary land mammals of Egypt (including Sinai). Field Museum of Natural History Chicago ILL.

For Middle East (some overlap with Europe, too):

Kryštufek, B., & Vohralík, V. (2001). Mammals of Turkey and Cyprus: introduction, checklist, Insectivora. Zgodovinsko društvo za južno Primorsko.

Kryŝtufek, B., and V. Voharlík. 2005. Mammals of Turkey and Cyprus: Rodentia I: Sciuridae, Dipodidae, Gliridae, Arvicolinae. Zgodovinsko društvo za južno Primorsko, Koper, Slovenia. University of Primorska, Science and Research Centre Koper

Kryŝtufek, B., and V. Voharlík. 2009. Mammals of Turkey and Cyprus. Rodentia II: Cricetinae, Muridae, Spalacidae, Calomyscidae, Capromyidae, Hystricidae, Castoridae. Zgodovinsko društvo za južno Primorsko, Koper, Slovenia. University of Primorska, Science and Research Centre Koper

Ferguson, W. W., & Menache, S. (2002). The mammals of Israel. Gefen.

Qumsiyeh, M. B. (1996). Mammals of the holy land. Texas Tech University Press.

Harrison, D. L., & Bates, P. J. J. (1964). The mammals of Arabia (Vol. 1, pp. 1-192). London: Benn.

For Europe:

The 'Handbuch der Säugetiere Europas' series has several volumes for smaller mammals.

the series of 'The Fauna of The Soviet Union. Mammals' (each major group has a volume)

Of course for Europe there are many more dedicated books for each country.

Most of these volumes are fairly old ones, so likely are available as digital copies freely if one looks for them.

Of course the access to a good voucher collection is the best, but technically impossible for most of us (eg. there are not more than 10 museums in the World holding all rodents/shrew species of the aforementioned area).

If you need help with a particular book, please let me know. Greetings, Attila

Hi. We have recently published such a technical manual for the Central Indian region. It has prey remains identification key for small mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and invertebrates. We could take photos of the skulls and dentitions using a camera-microscope. Interested readers can send a request on the given link for a pdf file. https://www.wrcsindia.org/publications-1