30 Hoopoe Facts: Fly-Catching Punk Rocker (3 Species of Upupa) | JustBirding

5 incredible Hoopoe facts: 1) Fossils show a stable evolutionary history of the hoopoe dating back nearly 40 million years. 2) The bird is named after its “oop-oop-oop” call. 3) They appear in Egyptian hieroglyphs, biblical references, and are Israel’s national bird. 4) It is celebrated as a wise guide in the Persian Sufi poem "The Conference of the Birds" by Farid ud-Din Attar. 5) Hoopoes secrete a foul, rotten meat-smelling substance from their uropygial gland to repel predators and parasites.

Family group of noisy singing Violet wood hoopoe, Phoeniculus damarensis bird in Phoeniculidae, in Angola, Kenya, Namibia and Tanzania, red beak and green throat, coppery and violet mantle feathers.

Red-billed Wood Hoopoe - Whole Earth Education