A couple of weeks ago, G heard a rumour that an Eagle Owl (normally absent in Tuscany) was being seen regularly in the main square of a town a 40 minutes drive from us. For some reason which we haven't been able to ascertain, this piece of news had eluded the birding community, but we saw pics in a local paper and an acquaintance told us that she had gone to look for it but hadn't seen it. Then we met a birder/photographer who had a friend in the same town and he told us that it was true.
We had seen Eagle Owls only once before, in the north-eastern corner of Italy, and oddly failed to see any in the Alpilles two years ago, so we were pretty excited by the news.
So yesterday after lunch we set off towards Torrita, a town we knew only for its annual Blues festival. Our hopes weren't high, as along the route we didn't see anything, nor even a Buzzard, nor a Kestrel, not to mention the Peregrines and occasional Lanners, which can often be seen along the local roads.
The town centre was deserted when we got there, and only Jackdaws, Italian Sparrows and feral pigeons were fluttering about. We did a quick tour of the likely spots in the old town, one church and two turrets on the Town Hall building and then retreated to the cafe on the main square where the friendly owner told us that of course we would see the owl, as it was there almost every night and that once it had even tried to prey on a cat.
We were soon joined by the birder/photographer whom we had spoken to earlier and his friend. We sat at the tables in front of the cafe and, sure enough at around 6pm, when dusk was rapidly falling, the Eagle Owl flew on one of the turrets of the Town Hall and sat there hooting happily, with the local people hooting back. Then it moved to another corner of the building and then to another one, hooting all the time. Then it got too dark to see anything and we drove home giggling madly.
Nobody has an idea of why this normally elusive beast (because it IS a fantastic beast) has elected this small town as its hunting ground. The locals say that it has been there on and off for almost a year and rumours say that it was in a nearby town before. It is probably an escaped bird, but has no rings, nor falconers' strings, so it's hard to tell.
Anyway, what a sight!
We had seen Eagle Owls only once before, in the north-eastern corner of Italy, and oddly failed to see any in the Alpilles two years ago, so we were pretty excited by the news.
So yesterday after lunch we set off towards Torrita, a town we knew only for its annual Blues festival. Our hopes weren't high, as along the route we didn't see anything, nor even a Buzzard, nor a Kestrel, not to mention the Peregrines and occasional Lanners, which can often be seen along the local roads.
The town centre was deserted when we got there, and only Jackdaws, Italian Sparrows and feral pigeons were fluttering about. We did a quick tour of the likely spots in the old town, one church and two turrets on the Town Hall building and then retreated to the cafe on the main square where the friendly owner told us that of course we would see the owl, as it was there almost every night and that once it had even tried to prey on a cat.
We were soon joined by the birder/photographer whom we had spoken to earlier and his friend. We sat at the tables in front of the cafe and, sure enough at around 6pm, when dusk was rapidly falling, the Eagle Owl flew on one of the turrets of the Town Hall and sat there hooting happily, with the local people hooting back. Then it moved to another corner of the building and then to another one, hooting all the time. Then it got too dark to see anything and we drove home giggling madly.
Nobody has an idea of why this normally elusive beast (because it IS a fantastic beast) has elected this small town as its hunting ground. The locals say that it has been there on and off for almost a year and rumours say that it was in a nearby town before. It is probably an escaped bird, but has no rings, nor falconers' strings, so it's hard to tell.
Anyway, what a sight!
