Birds and Birding's Guide to:

Watching THE ROLLER-LIKE BIRDS

THE ROLLERS AND THEIR ALLIES

THE HOOPOES

The typical and best-known species

The Hoopoe par excellence ( U. epops) — is found in summer in Europe and northern and central Asia, whence it ranges in winter into northern Africa and northwestern India. The following rather full description is mostly from Blanford: Crest rufous-fawn, all the feathers with black tips, and on the longest feathers the rufous passes into pure white before the black end is reached; sides of head, chin, neck all round, and breast varying from sandy to pale rufous with a vinous tinge; upper back and wings along forearm light brown, then a black band, followed by a buffy white one, crosses the wings and back, with a second black and a second white band on the wings, but the lower back is black or brown; the rump white; upper tail-coverts black, and the tail black with a white bar across it halfway down; quills black, the first primary usually with a white spot on the inner web, the other primaries with a white band across them, while the secondaries have white bases and four white bands, and the abdomen is white with dark brown streaks in front; the bill is dark brown, pinkish at base, and the feet and legs plumbeous.

When not molested the Hoopoes are very tame, familiar birds, frequenting chiefly the open country in either cultivated or waste places, and keeping mostly on the ground, although they can and occasionally do perch. They feed on grubs and insects, which they largely secure by probing in the ground with their long, slender bills. Although such beautiful birds, their nesting habits are such as to make them at this time anything but attractive.

They select a cavity, preferably in a tree, but occasionally in fissures in rocks or the sides of banks or walls, this being rather slightly lined with grass, feathers, or hair. In China they have been known to nest in holes in exposed Chinese coffins, whence they are called there Coffin-birds.

The female sits very closely and is fed by the male, and as the droppings are not removed by the old birds the nest soon becomes very unsanitary and ill-smelling. The eggs, from five to seven in number, are at first a pale greenish blue, but soon become stained and discolored to a dirty yellowish color. The period of incubation is about sixteen days, and, says Swinhoe: “

The young, when hatched, are naked, but soon get covered with small blue quills, which yield the feathers. The little creature has a short bill and crouches forward, making a hissing noise. It looks a strange compound of the young Wryneck and Kingfisher. They do not stand upright till nearly fledged. Their crests develop at once, but their bills do not acquire their full length till the following year.”

This Hoopoe was formerly not a rare visitor to the southern shores of the British Islands, but senseless persecution has finally driven them away almost entirely. Very similar to this but having a narrower band across the tail, is the Madagascar Hoopoe (U. marginata),

In the Indian peninsula, Ceylon, and the Indo-Chinese countries the place is taken by the closely allied Indian Hoopoe ( U. indica), which differs in absence of white on the crest and a more rufous tinge to the head, neck, back, and breast; its habits are similar to those of the European species.

 

previous bird species next bird species