Its crown extends with a fineness and style as some royal aristocratic headgear. But the cinnamon-coloured plumage induces earthiness to its attitude. As it humbly blends into the woods, its black-white stripes flash a regal reminder. And as it walks thoughtfully on the ground, ‘hoopoe’ is what we admire.
The ‘hu-pu’ or ‘hu-po,’ as it is pronounced, is named exactly after the calls of this bird. It belongs to the family ‘Upupidae’ and species Upupa epops. Popular as Common Hoopoe or Eurasian Hoopoe, this resident bird of India, seasonally migrates across the subcontinent. During monsoon, for example, it flies from Western Ghats to regions downhill.
Hoopoe’s crown adds glamour to its distinctive features. Its fawn brown body conceals it against the surrounding soil, where it strides briskly with its short and slender legs. The prominent black and white bands on its wings and tail look like “a little zebra in our park!” That’s how my seven-year-old daughter summarized it years ago, little knowing that this birdy will pose as her first on-camera supermodel.
With their long and slender beak, hoopoes probe and pick their food. Foraging alone, as if commanded to ‘earn your own food,’ they deftly march through open fields and feed on insects, small reptiles, and frogs. Plant matter, like seeds and berries, also comprise their diet.
Instead of weaving a typical twig nest, this stately avian builds mansions on bare and lightly vegetated areas. They love to live near trees, cliffs, walls, or abandoned burrows, where both the husband and wife aggressively guard their abodes. The gentleman doesn’t hesitate to discard all his chivalry if the house is under danger and through his fiery bill can stab or blind any intruder.
The incubating and brooding lady also deploys a defense mechanism to save her nest and nestlings. Her uropygial glands produce a very foul liquid, which smells like rotting meat. This gland, present in a majority of birds, is commonly called the preen or oil gland. The mother hoopoe rubs this stinking fluid, which otherwise is an antibacterial agent, onto her brood to ward off any attackers or parasites. The hoopoe chicks too spray their droppings, make snake-like hissing sounds, and use their bill and wings to fight invaders.
Hoopoes are most interesting when observed sun bathing and sand bathing. Particularly, when under sun, they take a peculiar position—head tilted backwards, and wings and tail spread above the ground. And if you think they’re dead, these hopeful hoopoes can surprise you any moment!
Photo credits: Athiya Mahapatra
(This was first published in the 1-31 December 2021 edition of the Gobar Times.)
An amateur ornithologist and closely follows the avian world.