Owl pellet (August 2017, N Apennines, Italy) (1 Viewer)

The attached image shows what I think is an owl pellet. After a bit of Googling I've a suspicion which species was responsible but I'd be grateful if anyone could give an opinion based on personal knowledge. I found it on 12 August this year on a south-facing mountain slope, with bare rock, scree and wiry grass, at about 1,200 metres in the northern Apennines (Piacenza Province, Emilia Romagna, Italy).

It was not fresh but could have been several weeks old: there had been no significant rain for three or four months. Some pieces of bone immediately visible had something of a birdy look about them: thin delicate struts, thin curvy surfaces, etc, and the main body of the pellet seemed to include at least some compacted feather, but there was also what looks like a Vipera fang (slightly yellowish, just left of bottom centre). I had nothing to put in the photo for scale but it was almost the length of my first finger and almost twice as wide at most, ie. approx 80 x 35 mm.

Unfortunately just after taking the photo on my phone I had to go scurrying off along the ridge trying to keep a dogfight between a Kestrel and Peregrine in view and, frustratingly, although I thought I'd memorised the spot, of course I could not find it again afterwards to collect and examine properly (nor did I see the outcome because they zoomed away out of sight down the sheer northern face).

Thanks for any comments, Brian.

That's a big pellet - if it's an owl, I'd guess Eagle Owl (Tawny Owl pellets I've found have been around 3-4 cm, 5 cm at most). Not sure if other large raptors (e.g. Buzzard) might also produce similar pellets or not.

Diurnal raptors do not have bones in their pellets, if it is as large as it looks Eagle Owl is a good call, especially as Eagle Owl pellets fall apart quite fast

Thanks for your comments Nutcracker and Tom. OK, so I'm going with 'probable' Eagle Owl! The pellet was enormous and on size alone Eagle Owl seems to be the only candidate in the region. Never seen or heard the birds itself (but I have examined a lot of niches in the rock that could hold one but did not!). I attach an image of the inter-falcon scrap, the reason I lost the owl pellet. The Kestrel was extraordinarily persistent in mobbing the juv Peregrine but last seen the Peregrine turned and was pursuing the Kestrel with it seemed malign intent. I wanted to see what happened but didn't!
Brian
PS good to know no bones in diurnal raptor pellets...