Kikinda

Kikinda's claim is ornithological and unlikely: every winter, hundreds of long-eared owls come in from the surrounding fields to roost in the conifers of the town's central square and streets, one of the largest concentrations of the species recorded anywhere, and they sit in plain view a few metres above passing shoppers. Counts have run into the several hundreds and the town has built a modest identity around it, with a festival and information boards. The other Kikinda tradition is Terra, a sculpture symposium running since 1982 in which artists make large-scale figures from local clay fired in the town's brickworks kilns, with the results displayed in a permanent collection. A mammoth skeleton found nearby, nicknamed Kika, is in the local museum.

History

Two medieval settlements stood nearby, Galad, built by the Slavic duke Glad in the 9th century, and Hološ. The modern town was settled in 1751-1752, Empress Maria Theresa made it the seat of the privileged District of Velika Kikinda on 12 November 1774, it became a city in 1893, and in 1996 the half a million-year-old mammoth Kika was excavated at its edge (Wikipedia, Kikinda).

What you'll find

• Roosting owls - hundreds of long-eared owls in the town centre conifers.
• The Terra collection - large fired-clay sculptures from the symposium.
• Kika the mammoth - the skeleton in the local museum.
• Banat town centre - low nineteenth-century streets and squares.

When to go

November to March for the owls, with numbers highest in the coldest weeks; they disperse in spring. The Terra collection and museum are open year round. The owl festival is usually in late autumn.

Things to know

Owl numbers vary between winters and mild years bring far fewer. The birds are sleeping and should not be disturbed by noise or flash; pellets and droppings under the trees are part of the experience. The town is otherwise plain and services are limited. Winter here is cold and grey.

Nearby

Zrenjanin lies south; Carska Bara is southwest.

Key facts