Monday 21 September 2015

A little Bird Watching; Eurasian Hoopoe


Yesterday we had another beautiful visitor in our garden. Because of the doggies we do not often get birds to visit us, but this one saw that they were all sleeping lazily and used the opportunity to check our gardens for worms. Yesterday we had our first rain after 4 months, so this might be the reason for its appearance. After some thorough Google-ing we discovered that this is the Eurasian Hoopoe (Upupa Epops).


The Eurasian Hoopoe is actually a pretty rare and very unique bird. It doesn't look like any other bird you're never going to confuse this species with anything else: the Eurasian hoopoe has a distinctive crest of feathers on its head that, in combination with its long, thin and slightly decurved beak and orange plumage and black-and-white wings and tail, makes it unique. It's taxonomically unique too: it's the only extant species in its family, Upupidae (although the Madagascar subspecies is sometimes elevated to full species status). It's controversial, but this bird is either placed into the Coraciiformes clade (kingfishers, bee-eaters, rollers, and woodhoopoes) or it's placed into Upupiformes, along with eight other species, one of which is extinct. (info via: The Guardian).


Through my search I also discovered that the diversity of birds in Turkey cannot be matched by any European country. Over 460 species, including 330 breeding birds can be seen. Turkey holds the stronghold of the world population of 20 species, such as the near-endemic Krueper’s Nuthatch, Armenian Gull, White-throated Robin, Finsch’s Wheatear and Crimson-winged Finch. Globally Threatened Species regularly occur and can be observed easily, such as Marbled Teal, Dalmatian Pelican, Lesser Kestrel, Greater Spotted Eagle and Sociable Plover. (info via: birdwatchturkey)



Hoopoe on Bamboo by Zhao Mengfu, c. 1254–1322 (Shanghai Museum)


As my images are not very great, you can see much better and professional taken pictures here, and in this video below you can see him enjoying eating some worms. The muscles of the head allow the hoopoe's bill to be opened when it is inserted into the ground.

15 comments:

  1. Wooow you where pretty lucky to have a sucn guest!

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  2. Love this little bird and all birds. I was groving up in beautiful place where bird were near me. They werer everywhere :)

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  3. That's such a beautiful bird!! I'm really inspired to have that bird drawn for my weekly challenge too.
    I miss having a lot more green around me. Whenever we go to our in-laws, I often get to see birds I don't get to see in the city.

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  4. So interesting post! Love this bird and the photos!!!

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  5. So cool, never seen any of these! And hare it is also true that after the rains suddenly it is full of birds. The chattering is so loud sometimes that nothing else is heard :-)
    That bamboo piece is gorgeous!

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  6. What a lovely guest! It looks so cool with the feathers on it's head.
    I bet birdwatchers envy you for having this rare species in your garden.

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  7. It is so cute...with a cute name too ;)

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  8. It is one of my favorite European birds.

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  9. Amazing bird! Great inspiration with such beautiful visitor. He didn't leave you a present by accident?
    I remembered the bird because of the sound it makes, but his beautiful feather pattern it worth talking about.

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  10. Beautiful bird, I didn't know this bird exist. A cool one!

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  11. Lovely bird! It reminds be about a funny romanian story "The hoopoe in the tile" that was the village's clock! :)))
    I actually looked up how many bird species we have in Romania and we're at 380 something. But we are lucky with the Danube Delta where lots of birds are living and flying too!

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  12. Lovely bird! There are so many species I don't know yet.

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  13. Wow! What a beautiful bird!!! It's so different! I love the piece you show from the Shangai Museum!

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