Have you seen this lovely bird in your French garden (known as a huppe here in France)?

Hoopoes are widespread in Europe, Asia and North Africa, as well as Sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar. They migrate from all but the southernmost part of their range to the tropics in winter. Their habitat is open cultivated ground with short grass or bare patches. When they are searching for food, their heads bob to and fro as they walk along the ground hunting for nsects and worms. The Hoopoe is 25–29cm long with a 44–48cm wingspan. This black, white and pink bird is quite unmistakable, especially in its erratic flight which is like that of a giant butterfly. The crest is erectile, but is mostly kept closed. It walks on the ground like a starling. The song is a trisyllabic "oop-oop-oop" which gives rise to its English and scientific names.

They nest in a hole iin a tree or wall. Like those of its relatives the kingfishers, the nest tends to contain copious amounts of faeces and smell very foul as a protection against predators. Nesting hoopoes are capable of squirting fecal matter at intruders.

Hoopoes breed across most of Europe, but not in Scandinavia, and favour open country and clumps of old trees, meadows, orchards and olive plantations. Almost all migrate in autumn - usually at night - to winter in Africa, south of the Sahara. They are also capable of migrating across the Alps and have been recorded in the Himalayas.