Marco Rigatti’s Bird Collection: Native, Exotic, Passing, and Hybrid Species

What birds does Marco Rigatti care for? Almost all species, both native and passing through: ranging from insectivores like swallows and sparrows, or solitary sparrows, to common granivores (finch, canary, goldfinch), and greenfinch, as well as omnivores like thrushes, starlings, and blackbirds.

Passing and Cage Birds

Passing birds include raptors such as the royal owl or the little owl, along with the local buzzard, while the number of waterfowl species, such as geese, ducks, and swans, is uncountable. In addition to wild birds, there are those from cages, mostly originating from Japan or China, such as various types of parrots, hummingbirds, or the magnificent Lizard.

Foreign species and hybrids

“The species of birds have increased over the years due to the introduction of numerous foreign specimens. The effects are visible in the hybrids,” Rigatti confesses, pointing to a beautiful hybrid of a Luscinia and a Canary, the “lucherinato,” living in a cage alongside the hybrid of a Canary and a Goldfinch, the “canarinato,” a tiny bird with feathers halfway between black and yellow.

Rigatti has an impressive series of information about hybrids, which he shares in the library, while his wife and son watch on, also fascinated by his way of handling the birds.

The natural place of Rigatti

But it is in the attic that Rigatti has his natural habitat, where he often returns to live alongside these feathered creatures. We leave him gently stroking the feathers of a tiny Luscinia just deceased in its cage — not even St. Francis himself could stroke them with more affection.