Hoopoes: Upupidae

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HOOPOES: Upupidae

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

Hoopoes (HOO-pooz) are medium-sized perching and ground birds that are especially popular because of their highly patterned plumage, feathers. They also have very long, thin, decurved, slightly bent, bills; small head; large, stiffened fan-like crest, tuft on top of head; broad, rounded wings; short, squared tails; and short legs. Bold plumage on the chest can vary in color between pinkish brown, pinkish orange, chestnut, and rufous (reddish), while feathers on the wings, back, and tail are black with bold white stripes. The particular widths of stripes depend on which continent the hoopoe is located. The crest and head are both tipped with black. The bill is shaped specifically so its muscles can move to easily open and close its bill while the bird searches for food. Males and females are very similar in appearance. Juveniles are duller in color than adults; with white wings that show a small amount of cream color and a crest and bill that is relatively short. Adult hoopoes are 10.2 to 12.6 inches (26 to 32 centimeters) long, and weigh between 1.3 and 3.1 ounces (38 and 89 grams).

GEOGRAPHIC RANGE

Hoopoes are widely found in northern, central, and southern Africa, Madagascar, Europe, and Asia.

HABITAT

Hoopoes inhabit lightly timbered temperate climates that have cold winters and warm summers. They prefer open and semi-open country with bare earthen patches or short grasses, usually with some trees. Such country include pastures, cultivated grounds, wooded farmlands, parklands, orchards, gardens, vineyards, woodlands, edges and clearings, steppes (treeless plains), plains (large amount of dry lands with few trees), dry and wooded savannas (flat grasslands), river valleys, foothills, scrublands, semi-deserts, and, in Southeast Asia, coastal dune scrublands. Within these areas, they look for cavities (hollow areas) in trees, walls, rocks, dirt banks, or termite mounds for their nests. Hoopoes stay away from damp areas. They range elevations up to 10,170 feet (3,100 meters), but normally are found below 6,560 feet (2,000 meters).

DIET

Hoopoes eat mostly insects, particularly soft larvae (LAR-vee; active immature insects) and pupae (PYOO-pee; developing insects found inside cocoons). Prey includes primarily ants, beetles, bugs, butterflies, dragonflies, flies, grasshoppers, grubs, termites, and worms. They also eat earthworms, centipedes, spiders, and woodlice, and sometimes eat frogs, lizards, and small snakes. Hoopoes hunt for prey primarily on the ground in short grasses and on bare soil by walking short distances, stopping to insert its long slender bill into the ground with the hope of finding food, and then walking off in a different direction. They sometimes probe under and between bark on trees; and other times dig small holes and turn over leaf litter, dry animal droppings, and other material on the ground in search of prey. Hoopoes also make short flights in the air to catch prey. Hoopoes feed alone or in pairs during the spring and summer breeding season. At other times, they feed in small groups of other hoopoes.

BEHAVIOR AND REPRODUCTION

Hoopoes fly with a distinctive pattern of irregular (often erratic), butterfly-like flapping of its wings. When coming to rest, they raise their crest, which remains flat during the time of flight. The crest, which normally rests folded within the back of its neck, is also raised when they become excited. Also when alarmed, they make a quiet chattering sound. They are able to easily climb upward even on rough surfaces. Hoopoes are diurnal birds (active only during the day), roosting in cavities at night. Hoopoes give out a soft "hoo-poo" and "oop-oop-oop" calls, which is easily heard over long distances, while puffing out of its neck feathers. During the breeding season, they are usually found singly or in pairs, but at other times they are seen in family groups or loose flocks of up to ten birds. They are migratory birds over the northern parts of their range, and partially migratory elsewhere within their range. Northern populations of hoopoes winter in tropical areas of Africa, India, and Southeast Asia. The birds in the southernmost parts of their range rarely migrate.

Hoopoes are monogamous (muh-NAH-guh-mus), having one mate, and are strongly territorial while breeding. Breeding starts usually in late April. Males begin the courtship process several weeks before actual breeding, using a song to attract his female partner in a series of two to five loud "hoop" notes, which are often sung on posts. Males chase females, bringing food, and showing off possible nest sites. Male hoopoes locate holes in trees, walls, cliffs, banks, termite mounds, woodpecker holes, flat ground, and crevices, narrows cracks or openings, between rocks in order to use as nests. The entrance is narrow, forcing hoopoes to squeeze inside. Once located, males chase away all intruders on the ground and in the air, making this area his protected territory. Such locations use little or no nesting materials, but can be made up of plants, feathers, wool, and other similar substances, eventually making the nest cavity, hollow area, very smelly and unsanitary. Suitable nests may be reused for several years.

During courtship, males will feed the female partner just before mating. Afterwards, the pair often flies slowly throughout their territory, one behind the other, while raising and lowering their crests. Females usually produce one egg each day, with a clutch size, number of eggs hatched together, of four to seven eggs in tropical areas and five to nine eggs in temperate regions, with a maximum number of twelve eggs. The smooth, non-glossy eggs can vary in color from grayish, yellowish, greenish, or brownish. They are about 1.02 by 0.71 inches (2.6 by 1.8 centimeters) in size. The incubation period, time in which birds sit on hatched eggs, is from twenty-five to thirty-two days, with females performing the entire process of sitting on the eggs. Eggs are hatched at different times. At first, females feed and take care of newborn chicks, but later both parents feed and take care of the young. Males feed females while she is caring for the eggs and for the first week after the young have hatched. Fledglings, young birds that have grown feathers that are necessary to fly, begin to feed on their own after six days, but remain with parents for many weeks, usually around twenty-eight days after hatching. Usually only one brood, young that are born and raised together, is raised each year, however up to three broods have been recorded. In the beginning young birds fly very clumsily in irregular curves, and walk awkwardly.

The young nesting birds use hissing sounds, poking upward with their bills, and striking with one wing in order to defend themselves from enemies. They also use very smelly secretions from body glands and sprayings of feces, solid body waste, to fend off attacks. To defend against predators, adults flatten themselves against the ground by spreading their wings and tails onto the ground, with their head raised backward and bill raised.

HOOPOES AND PEOPLE

People like hoopoes because they eat many insects that are agriculture and forestry pests. Thus, hoopoes are widely protected by a variety of national laws. However, many hoopoes are still hunted in southern Europe and parts of Asia.

CONSERVATION STATUS

Hoopoes are not threatened, and are common and abundant in most of their range. They have, however, suffered diminished populations at the boundaries of their ranges, especially in Europe where most of their populations have declined over the twentieth century and into the twenty-first century. Their numbers have declined in Africa, Madagascar, and Asia due to previously productive land that has gradually turned into deserts and other lands that have been turned into farmland. A previous species, the giant hoopoe, has been extinct probably since the year 1600.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Books:

del Hoyo, Josep, et al., eds. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions, 1992.

Dickinson, Edward C., ed. The Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World, 3rd ed. Princeton, NJ and Oxford, U.K.: Princeton University Press, 2003.

Forshaw, Joseph, ed. Encyclopedia of Birds, 2nd ed. San Diego, CA: Academic Press, 1998.

Fry, C. Hilary, and Kathie Fry. Kingfishers, Bee-Eaters and Rollers: A Handbook. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992.

Harrison, Colin James Oliver. Birds of the World. London and New York: Dorling Kindersley, 1993.

Perrins, Christopher M., and Alex L. A. Middleton, eds. The Encyclopedia of Birds. New York: Facts on File, 1985.

Stattersfield, Allison, J., and David R. Capper, eds. Threatened Birds of the World: The Official Source for Birds on the IUCN Red List. Cambridge, U.K.: BirdLife International, 2000.