Known as the ‘poop poop poop’ bird in our house, we are lucky enough to see hoopoes in the olive grove. They are very shy, and though so brightly patterned they are difficult to spot. Something to do, I think, with the black and white stripes merging with the shadows on the brown earth.

It is resident here, though we can go weeks in between sightings and never see them near the house. It looks like nothing else.

To listen to a hoopoe’s birdsong, click this link for the RSPB website.
To read more about the hoopoe, click here for Wikipedia.

5 to remember
la abubilla – the hoopoe
[tener] la suerte  – [to be] lucky enough
tímido/a – shy
residente – the resident
el sitio web – the website

Listen to the song of these other birds we see in our Spanish valley:-
Golden Oriole
Swallow
Wren

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
Hoopoe: the poop-poop-poop bird #Birds in #Spain via @Spanish_Valley http://wp.me/p3dYp6-1er