The Flight of the Hoopoes

A relatively rare visitor to Irish shores that has been spotted hundreds of times across southern counties in recent weeks appears to be returning to more familiar climes.

Sightings of hoopoes have dropped significantly in the past week, from 30 per day to just 2 on Friday.

256 sightings of the bird have been reported to irishbirding.com in just four weeks, compared to just 20 sightings for all of 2024.

The first sighting was reported by Sally Bolger on March 8th in Bantry, County Cork, with the next sighting coming in Kinsale 13 days later on March 21st.

The favourable weather conditions are likely to have been a significant factor in the arrival of the bird in such numbers to Ireland.

John Horton, who is the recently appointed Cape Clear Bird Observatory Warden, took to BlueSky on Friday to state, “After 20 consecutive days recording Hoopoe it appears the last one has now left us. Our busiest day total was 8 and we estimate that at least 15 different birds have made landfall here.”

Birdwatch Ireland said the recent influx of Hoopoes has caused “quite a stir”, adding that the “exotic birds are only seen rarely in Ireland, but they do tend to turn up, usually in small numbers, almost every year.”

“With their pink bodies, black-and-white ‘zebra-striped’ wings and flamboyant crests, they are unlikely to be confused with any other bird,” added Birdwatch Ireland.

Hoopoes breed across much of southern Europe and winter in Africa.