Green Wood Hoopoe
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| Green Wood Hoopoe | ||||||||||||||
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| Phoeniculus purpureus Miller, JF,, 1784 |
The Green Wood Hoopoe, Phoeniculus purpureus, is a wood hoopoe. Wood hoopoes are a family of tropical near-passerine birds found only in Africa.
The Green Wood Hoopoe is a common resident breeder in the forests and woodlands of most of sub-Saharan Africa. The female lays two to four blue eggs in a tree hole.
This abundant species is metallic dark green, with a purple back and very long purple tail. It has white markings on the wings and tail sides. It has a long thin curved red bill. Sexes are similar, but immatures have a black bill. It is a large bird, at 44cm in length.
The Green Wood Hoopoe is an insect-eating species. It feeds mainly on the ground, termite mounds or on tree trunks, and will form flocks outside the breeding season.
This conspicuous bird also advertises its presence with its noisy Kuk-uk-uk-uk-uk call.
References
- Birds of The Gambia by Barlow, Wacher and Disley, ISBN 1-873403-32-1
External Link
- Photograph of a Green Woodhoopoe (http://home.tiscali.nl/~jvanderw/gambia02/Green%20Woodhoopoe.jpg)
