Hoopoes are found mostly in Africa and Europe, though some have been spotted as far as Britain. They are very colorful birds and known for the spiky crown of feathers at the top of their heads, which makes them look a little bit like the punk kings and queens of birds.
Like the cuckoo, the hoopoe's name is onomatopoeic. They’re actually named after the sound of their call. Their name is a combination of the Latin “upupa” and the Greek “epops”. Its call sounds like two beats of a loud “oop!”. Now that sounds like a punch line to a nonsensical joke—upupa epops oop. Here are some more interesting facts about this marvelous bird.
1. Are hoopoes friendly? Or aggressive?
The only time that Hoopoes are generally harmful is if you try to mess with their nests. They will not hesitate to use their beaks to blind. Though usually to other birds, they first ruffle their crown of feathers to make themselves look bigger. When male hoopoes are confronted with a threat, they tend to raise their crests even larger. Hoopoes are wild birds and generally don’t interact with humans. However, anyone who lives in one of their regions can help them by planting nests for them in just the right places. Hoopoes tend to be very independent and solitary birds. Though it doesn’t mean that they’re lonely. They usually interact with each other only for breeding purposes.
2. What do hoopoes eat?
The hoopoe’s primary diet consists of insects. However, small reptiles, amphibians, and fruits, like berries, are eaten occasionally. During swarming seasons, the hoopoe will often hunt its pray in flight. On most other occasions, it will search for insects on the ground or in underground holes, by probing the ground with their long bills. This bird has very strong muscles around its bill, enabling it to be opened when probing below ground and procuring a wide variety of food like worms, crickets, larvae, ants, etc. This strong beak is also used to topple and search under large stones, strong tree barks and to probe through piles of dead leaves. Larger prey will usually be bashed against the ground or stones to kill them before ingestion.
3. Where do Hoopoe Birds Live?
The various subspecies of the hoopoe are widely distributed across Europe, Asia, Africa, and Madagascar. This bird is also found on rare occasions as far as Alaska. The hoopoe prefers to live in areas with sparse vegetation, where it searches for food, and vertical surfaces such as cliffs, walls, etc., which it uses for building its nests. The Madagascar subspecies is known to make its home in dense forest regions. European hoopoes have been known to migrate north for breeding and in places like south England, during summers, due to the high numbers of insects available for eating. Hoopoes also migrate with seasonal movements depending on rainfall, in counties like Sri Lanka and India. Some of them have even been seen in the Himalayas at very high altitudes between 6,000-7,000 meters above sea level.
4. Early life for baby hoopoes
Baby hoopoes are covered in a white fluff of feathers just 12 hours after they hatch. It takes only four weeks before they’re ready to fly the nest. It is the bigger and stronger of the fledglings who tend to make it. The runts tend not to survive if the male can’t provide enough food. If the male doesn’t show up, the female goes ahead and looks for food. In the latter case, if the female doesn’t come back during a rainstorm, the chicks are significantly endangered. For example, if the storm happens to break the nest down, the chances of the chicks surviving are extremely low. Even if they do survive, not all of them are lucky to have a human to rehabilitate them. Those who do are often not as motivated to fly at the same time that the rest do. Some become permanently dependent on humans, too. Of those whose full fledglings do survive, it is usually the oldest who takes the first flight out of the nest. The others soon follow never to return to their nuclear family. They are now on the road of their own independence.
5. What eats a hoopoe? Predators and threats
The hoopoe is not exactly at the top of the food chain. Some of its predators include snakes and birds of prey. Though the former usually goes after eggs in abandoned nests. Foxes are included as well, though they usually go after motherless chicks. In Israel, parakeets have also been known to invade their nests. The chicks often appear defenseless against a fox, but they’re not. They have a very stinky secret. They turn around and shoot liquid feces right in the fox’s face. This is the reason why “stinkbird” is one of its nicknames.
