Hoopoe

• The Hoopoe is a distinctively coloured bird with black and white wings, a pink body, a crest on its head and a long curved bill.
• It is about the same size as a starling. The Hoopoe produces one to three broods each year.

A Sacred Bird in the Ancient World

• The Hoopoe was worshipped as a sacred bird in Ancient Egypt and in the Minoan Civilisation on Crete.
• The Hoopoe Bird is mentioned in the The Bible, in Leviticus and Deuteronomy.
• The bird was mentioned by the Ancient Greek Aristophanes and by the Roman Poet Ovid.

Onomatopoeic Name

•  The Hoopoe had three names.
  • Latin: ‘Upupa’
  • Ancient Greek: ‘Epops’
  • English: ‘Hoopoe’
• All three names are Onomatopoeic and mimic the call of the Hoopoe bird.
  • Its call sounds like ‘Hooo Pooo’, and is repeated 3 to 5 times.

Species and Habitat

• There are three species.
  • The Eurasian Hoopoe (Upupa epops)
    • Europe (migrate to the Tropics in Winter)
    • Asia (migrate to the Tropics in Winter)
  • The African Hoopoe (Upupa africana)
    • Africa (some migratory others sedentary)
  • The Madagascan Hoopoe (Upupa epops marginata]
    • Madagascar