The excavator.... Hoopoe, Collingham, West Yorkshire. DSC_3659.jpeg
I've been rendered 'hors de combat' with M.E. during the greater part of the week or so that this bird has been entertaining the many birders and photographers that have visited the site, but I was finally able to make the trip from Nottingham yesterday.
I've not seen a Hoopoe since we had a pair nesting in a tree stump at an archaeological site in Bulgaria, close to where I was working on the animal bones 30 years ago, at Nicopolis ad Istrum (Nikiup).
This one didn't disappoint. An extraordinarily confiding vagrant passage migrant, that presumably should have been heading for sunnier climes in Africa, but has been knocked off course to turn up here, it happily pottered about all day searching for grubs and digging them up for food, coming within feet of watchers without fear or favour. What a super little bird, brilliant experience and well worth the trip..
No internet access for a few days now.
Thank you for your comments and faves
The excavator.... Hoopoe, Collingham, West Yorkshire. DSC_3659.jpeg
I've been rendered 'hors de combat' with M.E. during the greater part of the week or so that this bird has been entertaining the many birders and photographers that have visited the site, but I was finally able to make the trip from Nottingham yesterday.
I've not seen a Hoopoe since we had a pair nesting in a tree stump at an archaeological site in Bulgaria, close to where I was working on the animal bones 30 years ago, at Nicopolis ad Istrum (Nikiup).
This one didn't disappoint. An extraordinarily confiding vagrant passage migrant, that presumably should have been heading for sunnier climes in Africa, but has been knocked off course to turn up here, it happily pottered about all day searching for grubs and digging them up for food, coming within feet of watchers without fear or favour. What a super little bird, brilliant experience and well worth the trip..
No internet access for a few days now.
Thank you for your comments and faves