Bird of the month – the Green Wood-Hoopoe

In cracks and crevices

The Green Wood-Hoopoe is a highly specialised bird adapted to feeding and breeding in cracks and crevices – this is its particular niche or vocation in life. It is an elongated but slender bird, with a long decurved bill, and as with other common birds that are often taken for granted, there is more to this species than meets the eye.

Take that striking red bill for example – the female’s bill is significantly shorter and slightly straighter than that of the male, and this subtle difference has momentous implications. The females typically forage on branches for small insects, while the males probe into deeper crevices for larger prey. These different, gender-related feeding strategies result in decreased competition among members in the flock, since they don’t compete for the same food source.

In fact, within a Green Wood-Hoopoe flock, co-operation is the name of the game. The group collectively and vigorously defends its territory against other wood-hoopoe flocks. The loud cackling calls (which give rise to the Setswana name – Letsheganoga – ‘it laughs at the snake’) are usually associated with territorial disputes, and flock members can be seen excitedly ‘winding each other up’ to a fighting frenzy in the presence of the intruding flock. With hysterical calls, and bodies bobbing up and down, the group will do its best to intimidate and repulse the enemy! There is undoubtedly strength in unity.

A flock of Green Wood-Hoopoes bunch together on a prominent perch
to repulse an intruding flock from their area (Photo: Eugenie Skelton)

Another fairly unique example of co-operation is shown by this species during breeding; it is monogamous and only the alpha male and alpha female breed, with the remaining flock members assisting with provisioning of the female and young during the crucial incubation and nestling periods. A flock of wood-hoopoes all carrying food in their beaks is a sure sign that a female is waiting patiently in the nest for the next delivery! Co-operative breeding, as it is called, was virtually unknown in Southern African birds two or three decades ago, but once it was ‘discovered’, it was realised that many gregarious species have helpers – they are often offspring from previous broods.

Green Wood-Hoopoes nest in holes in trees, preferably natural cavities, but they will also use holes made by woodpeckers or, less often, old barbet nest-holes. Incredibly, they can fit through an entrance as small as 40mm in diameter! These nest sites are also used throughout the year for roosting – the birds are poorly insulated and are unable to regulate their body temperature in the open at night, and so huddle together in the depths of a tree cavity. With regular use, these sites become quite smelly as the birds have a pungent odour (as anyone who has held one in the hand will testify), but the safety factor afforded by the protection from marauding genets, Verreaux’s Eagle-Owls and other nocturnal predators far outweighs the discomfort of the malodorous roost interior. If by chance a predator is able to enter a roost, the birds still have a last line of defence – they discharge a foul-smelling glandular secretion which can deter all but the hungriest attacker!

In conclusion, the Green Wood-Hoopoe isn’t your average bird; it has become specialised to exploit its own unique position in nature, with the result that it is a delightfully different denizen of our woodlands.

Pete Hancock