Prey selection by Chordeiles minor (Common Nighthawks) does not reflect differences in prey availability between breeding and nonbreeding grounds

Predators may adjust their diets to match their energy needs and food availability, but these adjustments have not been explored for migratory aerial insectivores outside of the breeding grounds. We found that Chordeiles minor (the Common Nighthawk), a long-distance migrant and member of the rapidly declining aerial insectivore guild, exhibited similar levels of diet richness, diet diversity, and prey selectivity on the breeding and nonbreeding grounds, despite large differences in prey abundance. We examined the diets and prey communities of C. minor during two breeding seasons in Florida, USA, and two nonbreeding seasons in Corrientes Province, Argentina (2020–2022). We used DNA metabarcoding to identify insect prey in C. minor fecal samples, and we employed malaise and UV light traps to assess the abundance and composition of aerial insect prey communities. The abundance and richness of available prey were significantly higher on the nonbreeding grounds than on the breeding grounds. ..., , , # Prey selection by *Chordeiles minor* (Common Nighthawks) does not reflect differences in prey availability between breeding and nonbreeding grounds

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.q83bk3jsg](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.q83bk3jsg)

## Description of the data and file structure

We examined the diets and prey communities of *C. minor* during two breeding seasons in Florida, USA, and two nonbreeding seasons in Corrientes Province, Argentina (2020–2022). We used DNA metabarcoding to identify insect prey in *C. minor* fecal samples, and we employed malaise and UV light traps to assess the abundance and composition of aerial insect prey communities. Demultiplexed sequences from fecal metabarcoding were processed in Qiime2, and analysis of diet diversity, prey selection, and insect community diversity was conducted in R using the scripts and data files contained in this directory.

### Files and variables

#### File: prey-selection-data.zip

**Description:** Directory for all analysis.

Al...