Hoopoe in a tree , a slice of luck.

Hoopoes are very frustrating birds for the photographer in many respects, they are usually seen on the ground digging around in not the best positions or alternatively flying away from you. They rarely pose nicely – but sometimes there’s an exception to the rule. As we were driving along a dusty track a large bird flew up off the ground in front of us and we could see it was a Hoopoe. We expected it to fly off into the distance as usual but it didn’t, it perched in a tree about ten yards away and even better it was nicely framed by the surrounding foliage. I stopped the car and carefully placed my lens on a beanbag I always keep ready. I took a couple of shots before it inevitably wheeled away, but on the back of the camera I could see I had just caught it in the frame.

A total slice of luck out of the blue!