Hoopoe

The crown

The hoopoe’s most dramatic feature is its fan crest — a broad crest of cinnamon feathers with bold black tips that normally lies flat along the neck but fans open into a striking sunburst display when the bird lands, is alarmed, or courts. The scientific name Upupa and the common name “hoopoe” both imitate the call.

A Quranic bird

The hoopoe appears in the Quran (chapter 27) as Solomon’s messenger — sent to the Queen of Sheba with a letter. This story made the hoopoe a symbol of intelligence and loyalty in Islamic literature. In the Persian poet Attar’s Conference of the Birds (12th century), the hoopoe leads all birds on a spiritual journey.

The hoopoe was named Israel’s national bird in 2008, chosen in a public vote.

Probing with a long bill

The hoopoe’s long, gently decurved bill is used to probe soil, leaf litter, and rotting wood for invertebrates — larvae, beetles, earwigs, and particularly mole crickets. The bill has a specialized opening mechanism: muscles at its base can spread the mandibles apart while the bill is already in the soil, allowing the bird to grasp prey deep underground.

The smelly nest

The hoopoe’s nest has a notorious reputation — the female and chicks produce a pungent secretion from the uropygial gland (preening gland) that smells like rotting meat and is thought to deter predators. The nest itself is not lined or cleaned, accumulating droppings throughout the nesting period, adding to the odor.

Despite this, the nest protects chicks effectively — the smell, combined with a hissing threat display and bill-stabbing, deters most nest predators.