I still cannot believe that I saw him,

been living here almost 20 years now and never did before.

Even on bird club outings, which I miss, there was never one around.

[Mek]

Hop! Wow.

[KoalaGardens🐨]

oh wow that's unusual!

[Maggiemae]

Its a Hoopoe - never heard of it but with a funny name like that he must be an unusual bird and probably makes a sound like its name!

[narayani]

Great looking bird!

[Chrissie]

Glorious

[Beryl Lloyd]

A wonderful find and capture !

[Pam Knowler]

How wonderful! Great capture!

[Joan Robillard]

Wonderful

[Kate A 🇦🇺]

Wow, such a gorgeous bird!

[Denise Wood]

An amazing bird :)

[Islandgirl]

What an interesting looking bird!

[Mags]

Just awesome! So different from anything here.

[Corinne C]

Amazing photograph and stunning bird! Congratulations Diana, this is a fabulous capture!

[katy]

I’m so happy for you that you got this terrific shot of him. How exciting for you! He is a fascinating looking bird and I don’t think I have ever heard of it before either.

[gloria jones]

What a cool looking bird...great capture.

[Chris Cook]

An amazing capture. Good that you were ready for him when you spotted him.

[Merrelyn]

This is such a lovely, clear shot of him Diana.

[Junko Y]

What a find! And so well captured!

[Heather]

What a fascinating bird and a super capture, Diana! Great detail! Lovely bokeh too! Fav

[LManning (Laura)]

Excellent focus and details

[Jennifer]

super shot

[George]

Great capture.

[Christine Sztukowski]

Wow absolutely gorgeous

[Babs]

He is gorgeous what a lovely find.

[Carole Sandford]

Lovely capture!

[Paul J]

Wonderful shot

[Ann H. LeFevre]

Beautiful bird- so glad you were able to see him!

[Junan Heath]

Amazing find and capture

[Glover Shearron, Jr.]

Very cool looking bird, good for you!

[Issi Bannerman]

Fabulous!

[Diana]

@mastermek @koalagardens @maggiemae @narayani @cmf @beryl @pamknowler @joansmor @kjarn @gilbertwood @radiogirl @marlboromaam @corinnec @grammyn @seattlite @cdcook48 @merrelyn @jyokota @365projectorgheatherb @ljmanning @jesperani @gaf005 @365projectorgchristine @onewing @carole_sandford @pej76 @olivetreeann @paintdipper @ggshearron Thanks for the great comments and favs, they are very much appreciated :-)

[Beverley]

pretty awesome capture...

[Josie Gilbert]

Fantastic shot.

[Diana]

@beverley365 @josiegilbert Thanks so much :-)

[katy]

So happy for you that this one went all the way to the TT, Diana

[Shutterbug]

Nice spotting and beautiful capture.

[Diana]

@grammyn @shutterbug49 Thanks so much, I must say that I was rather surprised :-)

[Taffy]

Wow! I've never seen this bird anywhere including my visits to Africa!

[Diana]

@taffy Thanks Taffy, it was a first for me living here for almost 20 years. You should check it out with its crown open, really beautiful ;-)

[Tim L]

Interesting to read your observation. Here on the Mediterranean coast of France they are so common as to be mundane. I see many on my morning dog walks. Their flight as they take-off id fascinationg, weaving this way and that to outsmart predators. Just once, my dog came back with one in its mouth (it survived). It is called 'huppe' in France because of the sound it makes.