The Hoopoe (Upupa epops)
The Latin generic name almost sounds like a Swahili word, but it is onomatopoeic. Hoopoe males make during breeding season a low "upupu" call. This sound can be heard only infrequently, as the bird is rare in our latitudes. However, recently a slight increase of breeding pairs can be noted, an effect of climate change slowly shifting the northern limit of distribution.
The thermophilic and seemingly exotic animal needs half-open and only extensively farmed landscapes with interrupted vegetation at the ground. There, the insect-eating animal strolls around searching for food.
For breeding, the species uses breeding cavities or hollow trunks, which are a rarity. Often these accommodations are close to the ground and therefore easy to reach for its natural enemies. However, even the fledglings have developed an effective defensive weapon; they spray the intruder with a foul-smelling secretion from their uropygial gland or with faeces and give a snake-like hiss.
Depending on the environment, the seemingly colorfulness is a camouflage because the feather pattern causes dissolution of the form if the bird is sitting in a background interplay of light and shadow.
The hoopoe lays 5 to 7 eggs, which are incubated for almost three weeks. The chicks are then fed for a good three weeks. In summer months rich of nutrients southern populations have a second breed; this does not occur here, for the Middle European summers are too short.
In Germany "Upupa" has two focus areas of presence; at the northern Upper-Rhine in Baden-Wuerttemberg and in Brandenburg and Saxony-Anhalt where over half of all German hoopoes breed.
Why is the hoopoe sitting in our Africa bird showcase? The explanation is simple – the bird is as well an African. For one reason, the hoopoe hibernates from September to March for one-half year in Africa. Moreover, as an African species the hoopoe prevails there as a breeding bird.
The hoopoe population is spread all over Eurasia. For this reason it is still not a worldwide endangered species. However, in Middle Europe it is on the "Red List". For this reason, our nature conservation associations declared the hoopoe "bird of the year 2022".
And therefore we choose our hoopoe specimen as special exhibit.
