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In the early 1990s, while attending a
summer concert of classical music at dusk in the main central square of
Florence, Piazza della Signoria, my attention was attracted by a falcon
flying high around the old tower (Torre di Arnolfo), and apparently roosting
there. In the following days, I was able to identify it as a Peregrine Falcon
Falco peregrinus brookei (i.e.,
the southern European race). |
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I
soon discovered that actually it was a pair, using the main (world renowned)
monuments of central Florence for perching (i.e., Torre di Arnolfo of Palazzo
della Signoria and the Cupola del Brunelleschi). |
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celli (LIPU,
Italian BirdLife’s Partner).
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Since then I followed the pair of falcons for years, in
my spare time - obtaining the permission of access to amazingly beautiful and
panoramic high places in central Forence, both from privates and from the
city hall. I have spent hundreds of hours across several years in
observation, also involving naturalist Maria Lucentini and Simona Romano from
Lega Italiana Protezione Uccelli (LIPU, Italian BirdLife’s Partner). We
discovered that the pair was regularly summering and wintering in downtown
Florence, every year, and we also unveiled the diet composition of the
falcons quite in details, and even their prey preference (Serra et al. 2001). |
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The most
interesting finof our study was that, contrarily to what generally thought,
the peregrine pair did no any specific preference for the pigeons – usually
by far the most common birds of the cities worldwide. The most interesting finding of our
study was that, contrarily to what generally thought, the peregrine pair did
not show any specific preference for the pigeons – usually by far the most
common birds of the cities worldwide. The comparison between the proportion
of preys taken by the falcons and their relative abundance in downtown
Florence showed that the falcons were not selective at all, the only
selectivity shown being that relatively to the usual height of flight of
potential preys – i.e., only birds normally flying higher than the roof level
of buildings were taken, indiscriminately. |
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Update
Update. In April 2006 it was discovered that
the Florence peregrines nested on the dome cathedral. In January 2007, the
Province of Florence (Provincia di Firenze) approved the proposal (by G. Serra
and P. Taranto) to establish a webcam at the nest and to prepare a specific web
site for the issue: http://www.provincia.fi.it/falco/index.htm
The aim was scientific monitoring and
conservation education.
The webcam was attached at the falcon nest
through a spectacular operation undertaken in early March 2007 by the Florence Fire
Brigade (see video at: http://video.google.it/videoplay?docid=-8991889014950900654).
References
Serra G., Lucentini M. and Romano S. 2001. Diet and prey selection of nonbreeding
peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus brookei) in a urban habitat of
Italy. Journal of Raptor Research 35(1): 61-64.
photos by G. Serra
Last updated on 6 June 2007