Eurasian hoopoe
Upupa epops
A crested bird with a long bill and black-and-white wings. Confirmed in Georgia as a breeding migrant on the 2024 national bird checklist; it does not stay the winter.
At a glance
Key facts in one look
Diet
Soil insects
Status in Georgia
Breeding migrant
Size
25–32 cm
Habitat
Open and farmland
Family
Upupidae
Conservation
LC
Human interaction: It is not a threat to people and is not venomous. Wild birds must not be captured. Nests can smell unpleasant; that is species-level biology, not a sign of disease.
Overview
What is Eurasian hoopoe
The Eurasian hoopoe (Upupa epops) is a medium-sized bird (family Upupidae) confirmed in Georgia as a breeding migrant. The 2024 annotated checklist of the birds of Georgia codes it BB; M: a breeder that is absent in the non-breeding season, and also a bird of passage. Seasonality is classed as high-quality (code A). Occurrence quality is high (H), with photographs. SABUKO lists the Georgian name ოფოფი, the family as ოფოფისებრნი, and the order as ყაპყაპისნაირნი (Bucerotiformes). Adults are about 25–32 cm long at species level, pinkish-cinnamon, with a long downcurved bill, an erectile crest, and black-and-white barred wings. It is not a threat to people. IUCN lists the species as Least Concern. The 2024 checklist assigns the same category nationally.
Last updated
Gallery
Eurasian hoopoe in photos
Photo: Zeynel Cebeci
Gölyaka, Karataş, Adana ·
Photo: Imran Shah
Jutial, Gilgit ·
Photo: Giles Laurent
Pfyn-Finges ·
Photo: Luis García
Madrid ·
Photo: Charles J. Sharp
Kondor Tanya, Kecskemét ·
Photo: Andre.d.straub
Photo: Zeynel Cebeci
Osmaniye ·
Identification
How to identify Eurasian hoopoe
A crested pinkish-cinnamon bird with a long downcurved bill and black-and-white barred wings. In Georgia it is a breeding migrant on the 2024 checklist. Almost nothing else locally looks like it.
- 01
Length about 25–32 cm, wingspan about 44–48 cm, mass often 46–89 g (BTO mean 67.3 g) at species level. The bill is long, thin, and downcurved, black with a pale base. The crest matches the body and is black-tipped; it is folded at rest and fanned when the bird is excited. Head, neck, and body are pinkish-cinnamon. Wings and tail are black with white bars; the tail has a broad white band. Legs are short. The sexes are almost alike in the field; females may be slightly duller.
- 02
Juveniles are paler, with a shorter bill and a less bold crest. Flight is undulating, and the black-and-white wings are then the best cue. The call is a soft “up-up-up” series. It stands on the ground and probes soil; it does not climb tree trunks like a woodpecker.
- 03
No other hoopoe occurs in Georgia. Madagascar hoopoe (Upupa marginata) is not on the Georgian checklist. The African form U. e. africana is sometimes treated as a separate species and is also absent here. Crested larks are small brown songbirds, not this species; this atlas does not yet have pages for them. Bee-eaters and rollers are colourful but have a different bill and body shape; they also lack pages here. Green woodpecker, great spotted woodpecker and wryneck excavate or use holes that a hoopoe may later occupy, but they look different; this atlas has pages for those species. Little owl nests in cavities in open country but is an owl, not a hoopoe; this atlas has a page for that species too.
- 04
It is not a threat to people. Leave it alone. A crested, long-billed bird with black-and-white wings on a lawn or pasture in the warm months in Georgia is this species.
Biology
Habitat, diet, behavior, and conservation
Habitat and range
In Georgia look for it in the breeding season and on spring and autumn passage, not in winter. This page does not colour a municipality-by-municipality map. The 2024 checklist confirms country-level breeding-migrant status but does not publish a regional gazetteer. Do not assume it occurs evenly across Georgia, including closed high-mountain forest or treeless high plateaus. Species-level habitat has two requirements: bare or short-grass ground for foraging, and a vertical surface with a cavity for nesting — a tree, rock, wall, ruin, or nest box. That can be pasture, vineyard, orchard, park, woodland edge, farmland with trees, and village edges. A separate national elevation band for Georgia is not published here. The atlas map is empty until named Georgian localities are compiled from sources that actually list them. The photographs on this page were not taken in Georgia.
Diet
There is no separate Georgian diet study on this page. Across the range it feeds on the ground: it probes soft soil with the long bill and takes insects and their larvae — often beetles, mole crickets, orthopterans, ants, and other soil invertebrates. Species-level literature rarely also records small vertebrates; that is not a measured Georgian menu. In the field a crested bird on a lawn, pasture, or garden soil is typical behaviour.
Behavior
It is active by day and is often heard before it is seen. The song is a soft, low “up-up-up” or “oop-oop-oop”, usually three notes; the English name comes from that call. The crest is folded at rest and fanned when the bird is excited or landing. Flight is undulating; the black-and-white wings are then obvious. It does not excavate its own hole: it uses an existing cavity, an old woodpecker hole, a wall crevice, or a nest box. The female incubates; the male brings food. BTO figures at species level are a clutch of 7–8 eggs (observed range 4–12), incubation about 15–16 days, and fledging about 26–29 days; those are range-wide figures, not a Georgian nest sample on this page. The 2024 checklist treats the species as a breeder and a migrant in Georgia, not as a winter visitor. Most Palearctic populations leave the breeding range in autumn and winter farther south, mainly in Africa. Exact arrival and departure dates for Georgia are not tabulated here.
Conservation
BirdLife International assesses Upupa epops as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. The global range is large. The 2024 Georgian bird checklist assigns global and national Red List category LC. It is not on Georgia’s 2014 Red List (Government Resolution No. 190). BirdLife’s European assessment lists a Georgian breeding estimate of 3,400–34,400 pairs (2013–2017, method partial, trend deficient), sourced to EBBA Georgia (SABUKO, Ilia State University, NGO Psovi). The range is wide and the trend is unevaluated; that figure is not treated here as a precise national census. Species-level pressures include agricultural intensification, pesticide-driven loss of soil insects, and loss of nest cavities; a ranked local threat list for Georgia is not published here. The EU Birds Directive does not apply in Georgia. Do not catch or keep wild birds.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Short answers to the most important questions about Eurasian hoopoe.
Yes. The 2024 annotated checklist of the birds of Georgia lists it as a confirmed breeding bird and migrant (BB; M), with photographs. It does not stay the winter.
In the warmer months, in open and semi-open country with short grass or bare soil and nearby trees, walls, or ruins. This page has no named municipality list and does not colour the regional map.
Pinkish-cinnamon body, long downcurved bill, erectile crest, black-and-white barred wings. The song is a soft “up-up-up”. Nothing else in Georgia looks like this.
About 25–32 cm long at species level, with a wingspan of about 44–48 cm. BTO gives a mean mass of 67.3 g. A separate measured series from Georgia is not given on this page.
Mainly soil insects and larvae, probed from the ground with the bill. Diet has not been studied separately in Georgia on this page.
In the breeding season and on passage, coded BB; M on the 2024 checklist. It is not treated there as a winter visitor. Exact arrival and departure dates for Georgia are not tabulated on this page.
Yes. BB on the 2024 checklist means it is a confirmed breeder. It uses an existing cavity and does not excavate a new one. Local nest records are not compiled on this page.
It is harmless. It is globally Least Concern and is coded LC nationally on the 2024 checklist. It is not on Georgia’s 2014 Red List. Do not catch wild birds.
- Budagashvili & Javakhishvili 2024 — The birds of Georgia (Sandgrouse 46)
- SABUKO — Bird checklist
- Ilia State University — SPA bird checklist
- BirdLife DataZone — Common Hoopoe
- IUCN Red List — Upupa epops
- BirdLife — European Red List factsheet (Upupa epops)
- IOC World Bird List
- Avibase — Georgia bird checklist
- NPLG Wiki Dictionaries — ოფოფისებრნი
- საქართველოს მთავრობის დადგენილება №190 (2014) — წითელი ნუსხა
- BTO BirdFacts — Hoopoe
- RSPB — Hoopoe
- Mlodinow & Pyle 2024 — Birds of the World (Upupa epops)
- eBird — Eurasian Hoopoe
- Wikimedia Commons — Gölyaka (Zeynel Cebeci, CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — Jutial (Imran Shah, CC BY-SA 2.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — Pfyn-Finges flight (Giles Laurent, CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — Madrid (Luis García, CC BY-SA 3.0 ES)
- Wikimedia Commons — juvenile, Kecskemét (Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — Wiedehopf (Andre.d.straub, CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — Osmaniye (Zeynel Cebeci, CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Wikimedia Commons / xeno-canto XC108366 — Upupa epops (Alexander Kurthy, CC BY-SA 4.0)
Species profiles are compiled from peer-reviewed literature and established biodiversity databases, and are reviewed as new taxonomic and conservation data become available.
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