tired Posted June 29, 2007 Share Posted June 29, 2007 Was just looking out of my front door, when a very odd looking bird came into view. Went off to get my camera, came back, it was still there, but unfortunately my camera batteries weren't.It was maybe a bit bigger than a blackbird, beige, brownish tan body colour, with black and white 'zebra stripey' bits on its wings, a very long thin beak, which it was quite happily sticking in the ground and pulling out the worms, and on its head was a funny sticky outy bit, which was also black and white sort of zebra striped!Any ideas as to what it could have been? Looked at Chris PP's site and couldn't find a picture of it there..... and I want to know what it was!I live in area 79....... Thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre ZFP Posted June 29, 2007 Share Posted June 29, 2007 Possibly a brown Eurasian Jay ? Quite common really, looks like a magpie in less formal attire.Like this onehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_Jay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suandpete Posted June 29, 2007 Share Posted June 29, 2007 It's a hoopoe! We are in 79 too and have just started seeing them regularly in our garden. They are fairly rare in UK - in our British bird book which is probably about 15 years old it says there are only 30 nesting pairs in UK.... Much more common here; they look very exotic don't they! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patf Posted June 29, 2007 Share Posted June 29, 2007 Or a hoopoe? We saw a lot of those at our last house - they have a crest on their head and look very exotic. Pat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre ZFP Posted June 29, 2007 Share Posted June 29, 2007 One hoopoe coming uphttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoopoe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tired Posted June 29, 2007 Author Share Posted June 29, 2007 Thats it!! Its a hoopoe.. aren't they the ones that are meant to make that strange noise a bit like a cuckoo, but different! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Animal Posted June 29, 2007 Share Posted June 29, 2007 Like the moles, they keep coming back ! [:P]http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/702205/ShowPost.aspx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre ZFP Posted June 29, 2007 Share Posted June 29, 2007 When the OP said she'd spotted an odd bird, I thought she must have seen my OH [;-)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ford Anglia Posted June 29, 2007 Share Posted June 29, 2007 They eat lizards, don't they?Two years ago there were TWO nesting pairs at a local chateau. Over a period of two days, French drivers killed all four on the road.[:(] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemini_man Posted June 29, 2007 Share Posted June 29, 2007 [quote user="Emma"]Thats it!! Its a hoopoe.. aren't they the ones that are meant to make that strange noise a bit like a cuckoo, but different! [/quote]Quite right - they go "hoop hoop" "hoop hoop" :)well that's what it sounds like to me [:P] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris pp Posted June 29, 2007 Share Posted June 29, 2007 No, as far as I know, they don't eat lizards, they eat insects and grubs which is why they are often seen by the roadside and therefore at risk of being killed by vehicles.Chris, hoo hoo hooo..............hoo hoo hoo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterm Posted July 1, 2007 Share Posted July 1, 2007 We had one in our garden in Manche last year, which was a surprise as I didn't think they got this far North. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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