Twitchers fly by to see Hoopoe

An exotic Asian migrant bird, a Eurasian hoopoe, had extreme bird watchers or “twitchers” in a flutter over the past week after it landed near Broome – the species’ first visit to Australia in recorded history.

It was discovered at the Roebuck Roadhouse on Thursday, November 10, by Kim Onton, Martin Hulzebosche and Chris Hassell – local bird scientists who had stopped for a spot of lunch between shore bird surveys on the Kimberley coast.

Ms Onton saw it first, asking, “what weird-looking bird is that?” Mr Hassell, an experienced ornithologist, originally from England, instantly recognised the striking profile.

“This black and yellow crest came up above the grass, and I won’t tell you exactly what I said…this bird should be in northern Asia – the closest it normally gets to us is Malaysia or Thailand,” Mr Hassell said.

“But here it was, happily feeding and walking around.”

Over past two weeks the flamboyant fowl has attracted a frenzy of twitchers – extreme bird watchers keen on sighting as many species as possible.

Mr Hassell said twitchers have travelled thousands of kilometres to visit – including those taking the 5000km round trip from Perth, and one woman who flew across from Melbourne, hired a car in Broome, drove out to see the bird and returned home – all in 23 hours.

Mr Hassell said it was possible the bird could have set off from a breeding ground and had its in-built directional senses fail it.

The Eurasian hoopoe, or upupa epops, named after the call it makes, is a migratory species and a strong flyer, normally found in Europe and Northern Asia, migrating to the tropics to escape winter.

With a usual diet consisting of crickets, beetles, grasshoppers and sometimes small reptiles and frogs, it was unlikely to go hungry at the Roebuck Roadhouse, and Mr Hassell said it seemed to be enjoying the lush gardens around the roadhouse and caravan park.

“It has shady trees, green grass, grubs and lots of water,” he said. “So it might stay for months, it might be gone tomorrow, it’s impossible to know.”