Hoopoe

Hoopoe on barn roof

Cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo.  For weeks now we’ve been subjected to the constant refrain of what we thought was probably the most annoying bird.  But after today we now have a new favoured suspect; the Hoopoe.  A what?  A Hoopoe, a bird that makes you long for the tuneful song of the Cuckoo.

So how long have we been hearing the Hoopoe for today?  Well, as the sun began to rise over the top of the house a new sound reached our ears …. Poop poo, poop poo, poop poo. The sound was similar in pattern to a Cuckoo but the tone was lower and softer.

Hoopoe flying over barn roof

Searching for the source of the sound we saw a Hoopoe calling from the roof of the house. The Hoopoe is a striking bird with a long fine beak and crest on its head, giving a very distinctive profile that means you can't mistake it, and then when it flies off it gets even better.  It wouldn't be out of place in an Attenborough programme on the Amazonian Rainforest.  A migrating Hoopoe visited us about two weeks ago, stopping off for some food and water but he left the same day so we thought that perhaps they would pass us by again this year.

Today’s Hoopoe however appears to be much more interested in establishing a territory as he has spent most of the day calling from the roof tops and flying up and down the drive. We were even treated to a close-up view of him when he sat on our kitchen windowsill and started tapping on the window. So, the truth is we are keeping our fingers crossed he finds a mate and settles at the farm for the summer though we hope the Cuckoo and he don’t try to out-do each other everyday!