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Birds Heard
in Our Garden

Villa La Treille Muscate · Villefranche-sur-Mer

A living list

The garden at Villa La Treille Muscate sits on a hillside above the bay, sheltered by old stone walls and shaded by a dozen very mature olive trees. It turns out this is a remarkably good combination for birds. We've started keeping a record of the species we have heard. Some are year-round residents, utterly at home in the Mediterranean scrub. Others pass through briefly in spring or autumn, heading somewhere we can only guess at. A few have surprised us entirely.

All times and dates are recorded as heard by an AI listening to a microphone in the garden, around the clock. The list grows slowly and honestly.

I update this list every 15 minutes, you'll see that evenings tend to be a bit boring, but every morning at sunrise this place is like air traffic control.

Latest birds to visit our garden
Featured birds
Eurasian Eagle-Owl
Recently heard

Eurasian Eagle-Owl

Bubo bubo

A night warrior.

Just a couple of nights ago, the garden went entirely still before a deep, resonant ou-hu rolled down the hillside. It’s a sound you feel in your chest as much as you hear it. We knew instantly what it was, but having the microphone officially log it felt like capturing a ghost.

Monty had woken me after an 'accident' in his bed around 2am and after 'the job' I spent an hour listening to the recordings from the garden on my phone, feeling the presence of this magnificent bird.

The Eurasian eagle-owl is a true titan of the night. With a staggering wingspan of nearly two meters (six feet) and distinctive fiery orange eyes, it is one of the largest owls on earth. Not too long ago, these magnificent hunters were almost entirely driven to extinction in many parts of Europe. Hearing one stake its claim over the valley at La Treille Muscate isn't just a sighting—it's a sign of a slow, majestic return.

Common Crane
A skyborne visitor MARKING SPRING IS NEAR!!!

Common Crane

Grus grus

First heard: 28 February 2026 · early afternoon

Sometimes the most remarkable "garden birds" aren't in the garden at all, but soaring thousands of feet above it. Early this afternoon, the microphone picked up a chorus of wild, piercing trumpeting echoing down from the clouds. It was a flock of common cranes passing over the coast.

Late February marks the beginning of their great spring migration. Leaving their wintering grounds in Spain and North Africa, they ride the thermals across the Mediterranean, heading north toward Scandinavia and Russia in massive V-formations. Hearing their ancient, bugling calls ringing out over the olive trees is a beautiful reminder that the villa sits directly beneath one of the world's great migratory highways.

Curious to know how we do this? How the AI works? ↗