Eurasian Hoopoe
Upupa epops
Also known as: Hoopoe, Common Hoopoe, Puput
Habitat
Ground
Diet
Invertebrate
Active Time
Diurnal
Size
67 g
About This Species
Unmistakable with its long curved bill, black-and-white banded wings and tall fan-shaped crest, this species favours open grassland, orchards, farmland and open woodland edge across Europe, Asia and Africa, where it probes bare or short-grazed ground for insects and larvae. The crest is often held flat while feeding and raised briefly on landing or when alarmed, and its distinctive soft, repeated hooting call carries well across open country. Spring and early summer, when migrants arrive on breeding grounds and calling is frequent, offer the best chance of a close view on the ground.
Ethical Viewing Guidelines
- It generally forages on open ground where a slow, patient approach on foot allows reasonably close views without flushing the bird repeatedly, though backing off at the first sign of alertness is better than pressing closer for a photograph.
- Wild bird protections apply across its European, Asian and African range, but the specific legal protections and how strictly they are enforced vary widely by country, so no single rule should be treated as universal.
- Because it nests in cavities in trees, walls or nest boxes, avoiding disturbance near likely cavity sites during the breeding season is a sensible precaution wherever it is encountered.
Seasonal Activity
1,179,790 sightings · 2000–2026
Citizen science records via GBIF
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Bucerotiformes
- Family
- Upupidae
Traits
- Diet
- Invertebrate
- Foraging
- Ground
- Activity
- Diurnal
- Body mass
- 67 g
Photo
Wikimedia Commons / Wikimedia Commons
CC-BY-SA-4.0
Occurrence data from GBIF.