I just had to do a brief post of this.
I THINK that’s pronounced “oop-oop-a ee-pops”. Upupa epops is the scientific/binomial name for what we commonly know as the Hoopoe and it has to be one of my absolutely favourite scientific names. Pronunciation is one of the problems with the acceptance of scientific names amongst the masses, especially, in my view, with the Brits who are notoriously rubbish at foreign languages. The Hoopoe’s call is a two or three syllable, “hoo hoo (hoo)”, which I believe gives rise to its genus name of Upupa.
Any-hoo, a few days ago when we were wending our way back along the lanes winding through the orange groves, in-between Jalon and our campsite, we did scare up a Hoopoe who settled briefly in the limbs of a bare tree before fluttering away. I use the term “fluttering” advisedly because with broad wings they have a flight reminiscent of a butterfly. Naturally, we didn’t have a camera, not that we could have deployed it in time. I was pleased to see one of these colourful characters but a picture would have been pleasing.
Yesterday fortune dealt us a better hand. Francine spotted a Hoopoe working its way along the ground of one of the paddocks just behind Frodo. They use their rather long, decurved beak to probe for grubs in the ground. I went into Frodo to get my camera out, fully expecting it to be gone by the time I returned but, no, it was still there. It was partially obscured by greenery and quickly moved in to the next paddock which was more thickly covered in vegetation, thus disappearing from view.
I waited a while and eventually thought I must have missed its departure but then glimpsed it again. It fluttered up onto the top bar of the neighbouring fence, just long enough for me to grab a couple of shots before it did, finally, decide to depart. The metal fence rail isn’t the most appealing of perches but, hey, it’s a Hoopoe, albeit a serious crop. They really do look like the most unlikely assembly of separate components but they are delightful.
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