Eurasian hoopoe

Eurasian hoopoe

Upupa epops

Order : Bucérotiformes - Family : Upupidés

Seize : 28 cm - Scale: 44 cm - Weight: till 55 from 80 g

Eurasian hoopoe is present from April till September mainly in the South of the Loire and notably in all Provence. It hiverne in North Africa.
It likes orchards, copses and hedges, where it nests in the holes of trees and possibly in old walls.

The Eurasian hoopoe feeds mainly on larvas of insects which it catches with gourmet in the least chinks of barks and in the spices of the bank. One can surprise it on the ground looking for the food.
Although discreet, its colours make it easily recognizable. It raises a crest which can draw up itself fan-shaped consisted of red feathers in the black ending, an orangy breast and a back lined from black and of white / yellow.
The bird emits a series of 3 short sounds " houp-houp-houp ", one says that it "pupule".
The flight is jerky and wave-like.

The hoopoe builds a nest with plant fragments in a hollow of tree, where it will put down 5 in 7 eggs. After 18 days the small will be born and shall wait another three weeks before their first flight.

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