Family: Upupidae.
Status: No special status.
Size: 10 to 12 inches in length; weight 2 to 2.5 oz.
Diet: Carnivore.
Characteristics: Solitary.
Area: Europe, Africa, Asia.
Offspring: Four to eight eggs.
Trivia:
·
The hoopoe has been featured on over 70 postage stamps
from countries around the world.
·
The giant,
flightless St. Helena hoopoe was hunted to extinction in the 1500s.
· Hoopoes can climb up the sides of trees.
·
They have rapid wing beats and appear motionless while
hovering.
Hoopoes are strikingly beautiful birds, with black and white striped wings and tail. Their heads and chests are a light red-orange, and they have a large crest, tipped white and black, on top of the head, that rises when they’re alarmed or excited. Males and females are similar in appearance, but the male is slightly larger and his colours are a little brighter. They’re fast runners and talented flyers, easily able to elude birds of prey. When a bird of prey flies overhead while the hoopoe is on the ground, the hoopoe flattens itself, spreads out its wings and tail and raises its beak to defend itself. The hoopoe feeds on the ground, searching for insects or lizards, and as it walks, the head will bob back and forth. They probe beneath the dirt and grass with their bill for insects. Hoopoes are slightly larger than American robins. They like to take dust or sand baths. The hoopoe gets its name from its unique call—hoop-hoop-hoop. Hoopoes make their nests in holes in trees, walls, and rock crevices or even in the ground.
The hoopoe ranges from southern Europe and Asia, through to the southern tip of Africa. In the northern ranges, the hoopoe is migratory in winter.
A male courts a female by bowing to her while raising his crest up and down to attract her attention. After mating, the female lays four to eight pale olive-coloured eggs in an unlined nest and incubates them for approximately 18 days. During that time the male will bring food back to the nest for her. The young hoopoes hatch in three to four weeks and are born naked and helpless. Both the male and female care for and feed the youngsters. In a month, their flight feathers have grown in and they are ready to leave the nest. Hoopoes are well known for having filthy smelling nests. They don’t remove excrement from the nest and in time, it begins to putrefy. As well, the female and chicks secrete an oily substance that they spread over their feathers to keep them healthy. The odour works as a natural repellent to keep predators away from the nest.