The Eurasian Hoopoe (Upupa epops) is an unmistakable, exotic-looking bird with a pinkish-buff body, boldly barred black-and-white wings, and a long, erectile crest it can raise like a fan, especially on landing or when agitated. It measures 26–32 cm long with a wingspan of about 42–46 cm and weighs roughly 55–80 grams, its head likewise pinkish-buff and its bill long, curved and pointed. In its characteristically fluttering, butterfly-like flight the striking black-and-white wings are especially conspicuous.
Its call is a soft, hollow, three-note "hup-hup-hup", repeated and carrying some distance — the very sound behind the bird's name in several languages — heard mainly from displaying males on their breeding grounds further south. Widespread across Europe, Asia and Africa and a common breeder around the Mediterranean and in central Europe, the Hoopoe is only a rare visitor to Sweden, with a handful of records each year, mostly during spring and autumn migration and concentrated on Öland, Gotland and in Skåne; breeding here is a very rare and irregular exception. Where it does breed, it nests in cavities — a hollow tree, a stone wall or a building — with the female laying a large clutch, often 5–8 eggs, in a nest notorious for its strong smell since it is rarely cleaned and the young can spray a foul-smelling secretion in defence. It feeds on large insects such as beetles, grasshoppers and larvae along with other invertebrates, foraging on the ground in short, warm, open terrain and probing the soil with its long curved bill. A warming climate and the species' ongoing northward expansion in Europe may make it a somewhat more regular visitor in future.
Read about this species in Swedish →