#birding #nature #hoopoe #doncaster #rarebird #birds

Doncaster's Hoopoe

⏱️ Approx Reading Time: mins

My home town of Doncaster has had it's fair share of rarities too, some of which I've been lucky enough to see. In July we had a Black Winged Pratincole spend some time on some ponds near DSA Airport, which I was able to see on a few occasions. Around the same time we had some great sightings of Caspian Tern too which was also a lifer for me.

Black Winged Pratincole in Doncaster - July 2024

The Hoopoe in Doncaster

November 2024 saw reports of a Hoopoe in Rossington, Doncaster, which as far as I'm aware is a first for the village. This follows a few sightings each year this far north, but still very rare. In 2020, a Hoopoe made headlines for hanging around on a cricket green near Leeds, the first sighting in just over 40 years. This is one of about 100 Hoopoes which visit England each year after being blown off course during migration north to mainland Europe from Africa.

The Hoopoe has been doing the rounds in the village, visiting many gardens which are perfect for it to forage for grubs and insect larvae which are living in the soil, fattening up over winter.

Since mid November there have been over 20 sightings of the bird in the village, spanning it's full extent. I started a small project to log all the sightings for analysis as there is a chance this bird will hang around all winter before heading off south in spring. If so, this could be one of the most northern overwintering Hoopoes in the UK^[1], although I'm definitely not qualified to make that assertion and I'm basing it on my own research online.

So, residents of Rossington can join the ranks of many British villagers which have been swarmed by birders hoping to get a glimpse of these uncommon vagrant birds which are ushered onto our shores by dodgy wind patterns.

Sightings Map

The below map has been created using sightings reported by members of the South Yorkshire Birders group along with some sightings which were reported on local Facebook groups. The data covers a period of 7th November to 21st December 2024.

About the Hoopoe

Theres lots of info online about the Hoopoe but I wanted to include some info here so this will be brief:

Appearance

The Hoopoe is an awesome bird with striking patterns, a long bill, and a huge crest on it's head which flings up and down as it forages for food. The Hoopoe can be found in it's native ranges of Africa, lower mainland Europe and Asia, with occasional sightings outside of these ranges as vagrant birds.

A photograph of a Eurasian Hoopoe I created in 2020 at the Leeds Cricket ground.

Taxonomy

The Hoopoe is currently divided into three species within the Upupa genus:

Diet

The Hoopoe commonly feeds on larval insects which are buried in the soil which it is able to collect using it's long bill. I recently read a book called Bird Sense by Tim Birkhead in which the sensitivity of birds bills was revealed. I suspect the Hoopoe is also using sensitive touch and taste regions on it's bill to detect these insects in the soil, a bit like the dunlin exemplified in the book. Occasionally Hoopoe will catch prey in flight using it's powerful wings to manoeuvre quickly and accurately within insect swarms.

Summary

So we have an awesome bird in our midst and it's exciting times for those interested in birding. Once I've collected some more data on the sightings of the bird I'll update this post to include some maps of the data.

Created by Niall Bell (niall@niallbell.com)