Hoopoe

Quite a few in SW France, a reasonably common sight in the summer - they start coming in about now onwards
 
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tman said:
Really Bill !
they are a fabulous looking bird √
Click to expand...

Hi Tony
They spend a lot of time on the ground digging and have an incredibly strong beak that they can open whilst stuck in the ground when they find a grub - they look spectacular in flight as their wing speed is not too rapid and they fly quite low.
The have a "nice" Latin name Upupa epos and there are quite a few sub species
Their call is very distinct and a few birds do get to the UK when they overshoot …… but AFAIK they do not breed in the UK
They are all year round residents in S Spain but most tend to migrate back to the Southern Hemisphere - i.e. to Southern Africa from Europe
I think that they are nocturnal migrants
We tend to have a "family" around in our garden and barns - not sure if they are the same family but I have seen them every spring/summer for the past 25 years.
When I mow the grass they tend follow digging

Here is a couple of amusing images I have - taken at the back of the garden in 2012 before I got into bird photography a few months ago

Hoopoe.jpg


Hoopoe_30.jpg
 
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