A new collection of over three hundred bird bones from the Upper Miocene of Gargano is described. Eight different orders are represented: Anseriformes (1 species), Falconiformes (2), Galliformes (1), Strigiformes (6), Columbiformes (1), Apodiformes (1), Piciformes (1) and Passeriformes. Two of the three new species are assigned to extant genera: Columba omnisanctorum and Apus wetmorei, while a new strigid owl of the size of Nyctea scandiaca is believed to represent a new endemic genus. It is provisionally called Strix ? perpasta. The increase in size of the Accipitridae and the Strigiformes allows to distinguish five different biozones and thus to arrange a number of localities into a stratigraphical sequence.