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The Hoopoes


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Hi splishsplash,

Summer visitor in France, mainly in the south; migratory birds winter south of the Sahara, but also resident populations in southern Spain and north Africa.  Doesn't normally arrive in France before April.

It's a widespread species worldwide, including continental Europe, but is generally declining in Europe.  Rare breeder in the UK, more usually seen on passage.

For more info, go (for example):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoopoe

http://www.oiseaux.net/oiseaux/huppe.fasciee.html

http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/BirdsInEuropeII/BiE2004Sp984.pdf

HTH

Craig

 

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[quote user="Frederick"]We get plenty in the Vendee I never knew they eat lizards ... <snip>[/quote]

Hmmm ... well, lizards aren't really their main prey, to be honest [;-)]

Have a look at the bill.  Then you can see how it's much better suited to this diet:

The diet of the Hoopoe is mostly composed of insects, although small reptiles as well as some plant matter such as seeds and berries are sometimes taken as well. Common diet items include crickets, locusts, beetles, earwigs, cicadas, ant lions, bugs and ants. These can range from 10 to 150 mm in length, with the preferred size of prey being around 20-30 mm. Larger prey items are beaten against the ground or a preferred stone in order to kill them and remove indigestible body parts such as wings and legs.

It is a solitary forager which typically feeds on the ground. More rarely they will feed in the air, in pursuit of numerous swarming insects, where their strong and rounded wings make them fast and manoeuvrable. More commonly their foraging style is to stride on relatively open ground and periodically pause to probe the ground with the full length of their bill. Insect larvae, pupae and mole crickets are detected by the bill and either extracted or dug out with the strong feet. In addition to feeding in soil, Hoopoes will feed on insects on the surface, as well as probing into piles of leaves and even using the bill to lever large stones and flake off bark.

Source: the Wikipedia article referenced previously.

Amicalement

Craig

P.s  National bird of Israel, I see.  Good to learn something new every day, eh?

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Sorry Ventodue previous poster suggested eat lizards Have googled them and references to them being ground feeders refers to eating" small reptiles such as lizards " Seems they will eat just about everything they can get down if the stomach content list is anything to go by ....
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Last year there was a bird we occasionally saw and we thought it was an escaped parrot.

It was always high up in the trees and moved quickly - eventually I managed to see it for more than a fleeting glance it was beautiful and managed to identify it as a Golden Orielle.

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