This page does not include a separate study of what it eats in Georgia. In other parts of its range, it looks for food on the ground. It probes soft soil with its long bill and pulls out insects and their young, often beetles, kutianas, wasps, ants, and other small animals without backbones. Sources about the species also mention that it occasionally eats small animals with backbones. These details do not come from a separate study of its diet in Georgia. This is how the crested bird looks for food on lawns, pastures, and garden soil.
Eurasian hoopoe
Upupa epops
Listen to the voice
Imran Shah · Jutial, Gilgit
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.
Key facts in one look
- Size
- 25–32 cm
- Diet
- Soil insects
- Status in Georgia
- Breeding migrant
- Habitat
- Open and farmland
- Family
- Upupidae
- Conservation
- Least Concern
The hoopoe (Upupa epops) is a medium-sized bird. It belongs to the hoopoe family (Upupidae) and the order Bucerotiformes. It nests in Georgia but does not stay here outside the nesting season. It is also seen during migration. A photograph confirms its presence in Georgia. The information about which times of year it is found here is also reliable. An adult hoopoe is about 25–32 cm in size. It has a pinkish-brown body, a long curved bill, a crest it can raise, and black-and-white striped wings. It poses no direct threat to people. Internationally, the hoopoe is considered to face little risk; it had the same status in Georgia according to 2024 data.
Identification
Eurasian hoopoe: how to identify it
It is a pinkish-brown bird with a crest, a long, curved beak and black-and-white striped wings. According to the 2024 list, it nests in Georgia and is migratory. It is rarely confused with other local birds.
It is about 25–32 cm long, with a wingspan of about 44–48 cm. It often weighs 46–89 g, with an average of 67.3 g. Its long, thin bill curves downward. The bill is black with a pale base. Its body and neck are pinkish brown, as is the crest on its head, which has black tips. The crest lies flat when the bird is calm and spreads out when it is excited. Its wings and tail are black with white bands, including a broad white band across the tail. Its legs are short. Males and females look almost alike, though females may be slightly paler.
The young bird is paler, with a shorter beak and a less noticeable crest. It flies in an undulating pattern, and its black-and-white wings are easiest to see in flight. Its soft call is a repeated “up-up-up.” It stands on the ground and pushes its beak into the soil; it does not climb trees like a woodpecker.
There are no other hoopoes in Georgia. The Madagascar hoopoe (Upupa marginata) is not on Georgia’s bird list. The African form U. e. africana is sometimes considered a separate species and is not found in Georgia either. Crested larks are small, brown songbirds, but they are different from hoopoes. Bee-eaters and rollers are colorful too, though their beaks and body shapes differ from those of hoopoes. This atlas does not yet have pages for crested larks, bee-eaters or rollers. Green woodpeckers, great spotted woodpeckers and wrynecks make hollows that hoopoes may later use. They do not look like hoopoes, and this atlas has pages for them. The little owl nests in a burrow in an open area, but it is an owl, not a hoopoe. This atlas has a page for it too.
It poses no direct threat to people. Do not pick it up. In Georgia, a crested bird with a long beak and black-and-white wings seen in a garden or pasture during the warmer months is this species.
In Georgia, look for it during the breeding season and during spring and autumn migration, but not in winter. Municipalities are not marked on this page’s map. A 2024 list identifies the species as a bird that breeds in Georgia and migrates, but it does not publish records by region. Do not assume it is found equally across the country, including in dense mountain forests or on high, treeless plateaus. To find food, it needs bare ground or areas with short grass. For nesting, it needs a cavity in a vertical surface, such as a tree, rock face, wall or ruin. It can also use a nest box. Suitable places may include pastures, vineyards, gardens, parks, forest edges, rural areas with trees and the edges of villages. No separate elevation range for Georgia is given here. The atlas map will remain blank until records of specific places in Georgia are gathered from sources that name those places. The photos on this page were not taken in Georgia.
It is active during the day. You often hear it before you see it. Its soft, low-pitched song sounds like “oop-oop-oop” or “ooop-ooop-ooop,” usually with three notes. Its name comes from this sound. When calm, it keeps its crest folded; when excited or landing, it raises it. In flight, it rises and dips, making its black-and-white wings easy to see. It does not dig its own nesting hole. It uses an existing hollow, an old woodpecker hole, a gap in a wall, or a nest box. The female sits on the eggs, and the male brings her food. A nest usually has 7–8 eggs, though 4–12 have also been recorded. The female sits on the eggs for about 15–16 days, and the chicks leave the nest after about 26–29 days. These figures come from the species’ wider range, not from nests specifically studied in Georgia. According to 2024 data, it breeds in Georgia and migrates, but does not spend the winter there. Most birds of this species that breed in the Palearctic leave their breeding areas in autumn and spend the winter farther south, mainly in Africa. The table does not give exact dates for their arrival in and departure from Georgia.
On the IUCN Red List, Upupa epops is classified as LC (Least Concern). The species has a wide global range. A 2024 Georgian list also gives it an LC classification both globally and in Georgia. It is not included in Georgia’s 2014 Red List. A European assessment for 2013–2017 estimated that 3,400–34,400 pairs of this bird nested in Georgia. The estimate is based on incomplete data, the range is wide, and changes in the number of pairs could not be assessed. These figures should therefore not be taken as an exact count of breeding pairs in Georgia. Threats to the species include more intensive farming, a decline in soil insects due to pesticides, and the loss of cavities needed for nesting. The severity of these threats in Georgia is not assessed here. The EU Birds Directive does not apply in Georgia. Do not catch wild birds.
Zeynel Cebeci · Gölyaka, Karataş, Adana
Imran Shah · Jutial, Gilgit
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Luis García · Madrid
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Questions
Frequently asked questions
Short answers to the most important questions about Eurasian hoopoe.
Yes. As of 2024, its nesting in Georgia has been confirmed. It is a migratory bird and has also been photographed here. It does not stay for the winter.
In the warmer months, it is found in open or partly open areas with short grass or bare ground and trees, walls or ruins nearby. This page has no list of municipalities, and the regional map is not colored in.
It has a pinkish-brown body and a long, curved beak. It can raise the crest on its head, and its wings have black and white stripes. Its soft song sounds like “up-up-up.” There is no other bird like it in Georgia.
In general, this species is about 25–32 cm long, with a wingspan of about 44–48 cm. Its average weight is 67.3 g. This page does not provide separate measurements for birds measured in Georgia.
It feeds mainly on insects that live in the soil and their larvae. It searches for food in the soil with its beak. This page does not include a separate study of its feeding in Georgia.
The 2024 list records it during the nesting season and migration, but does not consider it a winter visitor. The table on this page does not give exact arrival and departure dates for Georgia.
Yes. The 2024 list confirms that it nests. It uses an existing hollow for its nest and does not dig a new one. This page does not bring together records of local nests.
It is harmless. Globally and on the 2024 national list, it is classified as Least Concern (LC). It is not included in Georgia’s 2014 Red List. Do not catch wild birds.
References
What this profile is based on
Species profiles are compiled from peer-reviewed literature and established biodiversity databases, and are reviewed as new taxonomic and conservation data become available.
Prepared by the Reptiles.ge editorial team from the sources listed here.
