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Eurasian Hoopoe
Upupa epops ceylonensis |
Upupa epops ceylonensis: Eurasian
Hoopoe – pronounced (hupu); (Sanskrit)
Putrapriya, Kathaku, Kuthaku; (Hindi) Hudhud.
Conservation Status: Least
Concern (Green)
That is how Hoopoes are listed in
most references – Least Concern. I’m sure the experts are correct on this and
have a count in current period. My amateur impression, spread across four
decades at least, however, is that nowadays I don’t see Hoopoes in the same
density in Delhi as I used to growing up on the edge of Central Ridge. It is
possible that living close to a relatively uninhabited pocket of forest habitat
as a child biases my memories. Perhaps if I had lived away from such a forest
pocket as I do now, my memories might not have recorded a significant decline
over time. Perhaps Hoopoes are spotted in numbers in built up slivers of Delhi
along the UP and Harayana borders. Anecdotally, I have struggled to spot
sufficient numbers of these birds in Delhi, and even in Keoladeo Ghana
considering KNP is such a large habitat.
In my experience at KNP there are
too few Hoopoes compared to other birds and there are fixed spots where you can
find them. Therefore, they could be members of a small community of Hoopoes. At
Bhindawas in Harayana, I spotted just two Hoopoes in an entire day. The odd one
can be spotted at Asola Bhatti Wildlife Park as well.
There could be a few reasons for
this: Hoopoes need old trees with hollows for nesting, preferring open spaces
and broken woodlands with such trees to dense forested areas; Hoopoes typically
forage on the ground despite nesting in tree hollows – their long, decurved
pointed bills are used to probe earth for insects, worms, maggots and such
delicacies – and such open spaces are almost absent in larger part of Delhi
these days. Even parks within colonies have vanished. Old trees in colonies
have been systematically poisoned, killed and then cut to by expansionary
residents of Delhi to avoid environmental laws; similar open spaces and fields
in the interiors of India are rapidly being replaced by colonies and commercial
projects; and these are shy birds anyway.
Hoopoes are magnificent birds –
their black and white striped wing patterns can be dramatic in flight and their
erectile brown and black striped crest are equally dramatic. Leaves of the
erectile are rolled into a cone normally, but when excited, they unfurl in a
most theatrical manner.
Their call is quite distinctive –
the male of the species has a quite loud, hollow treble sounding “hoop-hoop-hoop”
or “pooh-pooh-pooh”. This is the source of its name – Hoopoe or Hudhud.
The female of the species
vigorously guards its eggs and will fight to return to nest at cost to itself
if displaced by hand. The male feeds her during the incubation period. This is
probably the source of its name putrapriya
in Sanskrit. It’s constant probing of the ground gives it its other Sanskrit
name – Kuthaku.
These birds climb up trunks and
look woodpecker-ish: for quite a while growing up, I used to think they were!
This photograph is, therefore, precious for me even if it may be common for many.
Photographed at Keoladeo Ghana
National Park, Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India on 2.3.2014
Camera used: Nikon D5100 DSLR
with AF-S DX NIKKOR 55-300mm VR Lens.
References:
1)
Sanskrit
Name Source: Birds
in Sanskrit Literature: With 107 Bird Illustrations by K.N.Dave
2)
Hoopoe
page on Wikipedia.
