Eurasian Hoopoe

Eurasian Hoopoe Upupa epops (March 31, 2011, Jeju Island)

  Thankfully pronounced 'who-poo', the Hoopoe is the ultimate punk-rock bird. These D-Day stripe-winged birds show up in farming towns in small numbers every spring and fall in Korea, but have a habit of turning up at random times year-round. One was just spotted on Jeju a week ago. 'Hututi' in Korean, by the way.
  Also spotted on Jeju over the past week: 10 Oriental Plovers! My Korean birding friend Young Ho and I spent three consecutive springs fruitlessly searching for one on Jeju, so naturally 10 show up my first spring away.
  I was going to cruise down to the southeast of the island to have a look for any early migrants today, but it's looking rainy. A lot of Little Egrets on the salt-water canal outside my apartment lately - at least 30.