An exotic bird caused a flap when it landed in a farmer’s garden near Mintlaw in Aberdeenshire.
George and Jacqueline Howie knew they had come across an unusual bird when they spotted the colourful migrant feeding on their lawn.
The couple discovered it was a rare sighting when they went online to identify the unusual bird and contacted the RSPB.
RSPB staff arrived at the couple’s farm soon afterwards and confirmed that they had a Magadascan Hoopoe in their garden.
The farmers then had dozens of birdwatchers turn up on their doorstep to catch a glimpse of the creature after a photo appeared online.
Yesterday, Mr Howie said the bird arrived at Easter Knock Farm on Wednesday and stayed there the whole day.
He said: “It just landed in the garden and I knew right away it was a rare bird.
“I looked it up on the internet to find out what it was and sure enough it was a Madagascan Hoopoe.
“It’s very unusual for it to be in Scotland and it’s very rare for it to be up here.
“It landed in the garden and fed on some insects and worms.
“It’s maybe the good weather that has taken it here. Apparently it migrates between Africa and Europe and lands in the south of France and Spain.
“It was probably blown off course, but the bird was quite happy, it didn’t seem to be stressed at all.
“It stayed with us from 9am until about 11 at night. It went up into a tree a few times and came back down to feed.”
The farmer said his wife often fed wild birds but they hadn’t expected something so unusual to land in their garden.
The colourful bird is easily identified by the dramatic black and white stripes on its wings, long curved bill and red crest.
It normally lives in tropical dry forests in Madagascar and migrates to the south of France for the summer months.
Mr Howie added: “It was something totally different.
“It’s quite rare to be in this part of the world.”