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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Allen S. Moore" data-source="post: 1890084" data-attributes="member: 22662">Monahawk, you ought to visit NE Spain. I have seen hoopoes on most of my holidays in Spain, and the region where I see them most of all is Catalunya in the far NE. I even saw one over the top end of La Rambla, the famous street in Barcelona. It was the call that alerted me to it, audible despite the buskers. To be totally sure, book a trip with a guide. There are a few excellent guides in NE Spain, those that I have been for trips with and which I can whole heartedly recommend are:Catalanbirdtours (Stephen)Ebrotours (Rob & Marg)You will also see lots of other fine birds that will make you forget that the hoopoe was ever a bogey bird! I suppose that I have a few bogey birds myself, species that I have missed or not identified for various reasons. The oldest is the bulwer's petrel, which I looked out for on a few boat trips in Madeira and the Canaries. Most of these were in April and, therefore, too early in the season. In the very hot August of 2003 I went to do a boat trip from Puerto de Tazacorte on the west coast of La Palma (Canaries), but there were not enough people to do the trip and they asked me to come back in 4 hours. It was too hot to hang around, so I gave up. I count marsh sandpiper as another bogey bird as in 2004 I saw what might have been one on the Ebro Delta, "That's a thin looking greenshank!" but I wasn't really aware of the existence of marsh sandpipers at the time. I'm still looking for them. Also, I stayed 3 nights at Cassowary House above Cairns (Australia) in 2008 and "dipped" on the cassowary that had been seen on the morning before I arrived there. I'm giving it another try! Allen</blockquote>

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