Information And Facts About The Hoopoe Bird

Hoopoe bird

The hoopoe is a brown bird with a pinkish color at the head and shoulders, and is crowned with eye-catching feathers on its head. The hoopoe is distinguished by a crest of long, black, upright feathers visible on its head, and black and white on its tail. It follows the line of birds (Aves). ), order Bucerotiformes, family Upupidae, and genus Upupa Linnaeus.

Description of the hoopoe’s shape

The shape of the hoopoe is characterized by many characteristics, including:

A medium-sized bird with decorative plumage.

The head is small, with a high, long, solid, fan-like curved crest.

Its wings are broad and round, it has a short, square tail, and small legs.

It is characterized by feathers on the chest, the color of which varies from one species to another. Its color ranges between pinkish-brown, pink-orange, maroon, and red, while the feathers of the wings, back, and head are black with white lines, and the width of these lines varies according to the continent in which the hoopoe is found.

The hoopoe’s beak is characterized by the ease with which its muscles move to open and close while searching for food.

Male and female hoopoe are very similar in appearance.

The plumage colors of juvenile hoopoes are somewhat dull compared to adults, and their wings are white with few colors, and their beak is relatively short.

The length of an adult hoopoe ranges between 26-32 cm, with a mass ranging between 38-89 g.

Facts about the hoopoe

There are many facts that are specific to the hoopoe, including:

The hoopoe is called this name in English after the sound it makes (poo-poo-poo).

The hoopoe is considered a fairly silent bird, as it does not make many sounds outside of the breeding season.

The hoopoe tends to live in warm climates; Therefore, it is found in abundance in the Mediterranean region, and may move north as temperatures drop.

The hoopoe is widely distributed in Spain, in addition to its presence in Portugal, southern France, Italy, and Greece.

The hoopoe prefers to live in areas with low plant density and where pesticides are not widely used.

Its food depends mainly on insects, larvae, and pupae.

The hoopoe’s beak is considered its most important tool, as its long, curved beak allows it to search for food among plants, and dig in the ground to find insects.

It prefers to search for its food in short-grass lands. Because finding insects and digging the ground is easier in those areas.

It prefers to find and settle in holes in tree trunks, cliffs, and walls rather than making nests.

Hoopoe eggs are pale in color and lack any distinctive marks, and only the female incubates the eggs.

The hoopoe does not remove its droppings from the nest, which causes it to emit a very unpleasant smell after a period of time, so experienced hunters can follow the scent to find the hoopoe’s nest.

The hoopoe is considered a partially migratory bird. This is because some of them migrate south in the winter, and others settle in the area year-round.

The hoopoe is a very distinctive bird in Europe in terms of appearance, as there are no birds similar to it there, which makes it easy to identify it and not confuse it with other bird species.

The hoopoe is a widespread bird in India.

Male and female hoopoes are very similar in terms of the shape of their feathers and their colours, except that the female appears pale in color compared to the male.

Hoopoe babies are more similar to females at the beginning of their lives.

The hoopoe is the bird that was mentioned in the Qur’an as the bird close to the Prophet Solomon, peace be upon him.

The most famous species of hoopoe

The hoopoe has many species, the most important of which are:

African hoopoe

Both the African hoopoe (Upupa africana) and the Eurasian hoopoe (Upupa epops) belong to the same family, but the African hoopoe differs from the Eurasian hoopoe in terms of the colors of both males and females. The African hoopoe is characterized by a brown color on its upper parts that is richer than that found in The Eurasian hoopoe does not have white stripes on its feathery crest, and the two species behave almost identically.

The African hoopoe is spread throughout Africa with the exception of the western and central tropical lowland forests. Some of them are migratory and others are settled in African lands. The length of the African hoopoe is about 25 cm to 29 cm, with a mass of about 57 grams, and its wingspan ranges between 44 cm. It is 48 cm long and has cinnamon-coloured wings. Its lower parts are interspersed with white and black lines on the wings and tail. Chestnut-coloured feathers appear at its top. The crest is curved back in a stable position, but it quickly straightens if the hoopoe feels disturbed.

Eurasian hoopoe

This type of hoopoe is currently rare, as it is considered an old world bird. It has existed for a long period of time, and most of its available numbers are found in Europe, parts of Africa, and South Asia. It prefers to live in populated areas, where there are parks and open orchards. Because of the ease of searching for food there, it feeds mainly on spiders, insects, and other invertebrate creatures, in addition to grains, berries, and everything that this hoopoe eats is picked up with its long beak from the surface of the ground, or from under the surface, and it is also adept at catching insects. While flying in the air.

The Eurasian hoopoe appears in a pinkish-brown color on the chest, back, and head, with long wings that reach 45 cm in length, and a long tail. The length of the Eurasian hoopoe is approximately 30 cm. The female in this species lays from 3 to 11 eggs, and the mother incubates the eggs alone. The Eurasian hoopoe uses tree cavities as a nest, as in the African hoopoe, where it builds the cavity with feathers and soft materials.