Eurasian Hoopoe

Overview

The Eurasian hoopoe, or common hoopoe (Upupa epops), is the most widespread species of hoopoe found across Europe, Asia, and Africa. It is a distinctive cinnamon-coloured bird that migrates in the northern parts of its range while remaining sedentary in African populations.

Identification

• Medium-sized bird, 25–32 cm long, with a tall erectile crest and broad, rounded wings.
• Distinctive plumage features include a cinnamon body, black and white barred wings, and a broad white band across a black tail.
• Possesses a long, narrow, downcurved black bill with a fawn base, strengthened for probing soil.
• Recognisable by its soft, trisyllabic call of "oop-oop-oop", though it also produces rasping croaks and hisses when alarmed.

Habitat

Native to Europe, Asia, and North Africa, the species requires bare or lightly vegetated ground for foraging and vertical surfaces with cavities for nesting. It inhabits a wide variety of ecosystems, including heathland, wooded steppes, savannas, grasslands, and forest glades.

Diet

The diet consists primarily of insects, though small reptiles, frogs, and plant matter are occasionally consumed. As a solitary forager, it typically probes the ground with its bill to extract larvae, pupae, and mole crickets, sometimes using its feet to dig or levers to move stones.

Did you know?

The species was chosen as the national bird of Israel in 2008 following a national survey of 155,000 citizens, outpolling the white-spectacled bulbul. Additionally, in the Persian book of poems The Conference of the Birds, the hoopoe serves as the leader of the birds who points out that the Simurgh is the true king.