Hud-hud

This Hud-hud, or Hoopoe, so identified by our ecologist pal Jane, came to visit the other day, just outside a bank of second story windows. As is common in most of of Dubai's buildings, our villa has highly reflective glass windows, and this Hud-hud seemed to be attempting to commune with his (or her?) reflection. He (there's something very male about all that plumage) also seemed to have no idea I was there at first, and then became very excited by the sound of my camera's shutter, hopping up and down and pecking at his reflection. According to the link referenced above, the Hud-hud is mentioned in the Quran as the messenger of prophets and, even before I read that, I felt lucky to have gotten so close to him. He was, for nearly an hour, our honored guest.