An exotic little visitor from North Africa turned up on good Friday. M. Sarkozy would not be pleased. He has been complaining loudly about too many migrants coming to France. This is slightly worrying for us (also being migrants), but I fear it is more the North Africans he has in his sights such as
our colourful little Hoopoe (Upupa Epops).
I suspect it is just electioneering bluster on the part of the incumbent President, who would presumably like to stay in his job given the levels of unemployment at the moment. The election is only a couple of weeks away and the far right seems to be more of a significant force in France, so a bit of xenophobia from Sarkozy is presumably just a tactic to win over votes from Marine Le Pen (daughter of Jean-Marie). I notice that Marine Le Pen, leader of the far right party, is yet another lawyer - why are so many politicians lawyers?
We saw and heard Hoopoes last year, but they are very shy and, try as we might, we were unable to get any but the very fuzziest of photos. This one came quite close to the house, attracted I fear by my newly sown grass seed. Wikipedia, though, says it mainly eats insects and larvae. It has a very long and very sharp beak which it was jabbing quite violently into the ground (perhaps it wasn't after my grass seed). It was considered sacred in ancient Egypt, and you can see why, it is a most spectacular little creature to which, sadly, the photos do it no justice at all.
No matter what the politicians say, I think it is a very welcome addition to the la Communauté française.
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