Upupa africana
Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The Eurasian hoopoe or common hoopoe (Upupa epops) is the most widespread species of hoopoe. It is a distinctive cinnamon coloured bird with black and white wings, a tall erectile crest, a broad white band across a black tail, and a long narrow downcurved bill. Its call is a soft "oop-oop-oop".
The Eurasian hoopoe is native to Europe, Asia and Africa. It is migratory in the northern part of its range. Some ornithologists consider the Madagascar hoopoe (U. marginata) as a subspecies. The African hoopoe, subspecies U. e. africana, has sometimes been treated as a separate species.
The Eurasian hoopoe was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. He cited the earlier descriptions by the French naturalist Pierre Belon and by the Swiss naturalist Conrad Gessner, both of which had been published in 1555. Linnaeus placed the Eurasian hoopoe with the northern bald ibis and the red-billed chough in the genus Upupa and coined the binomial name Upupa epops. The specific epithet epops in the Ancient Greek word for a hoopoe.
Eight subspecies are recognised. The subspecies vary in size and the depth... Wikipedia →
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report an African Hoopoe sighting in Table Mountain National Park on a given day, based on 12 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 108th most-seen of the 223 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March and December
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report an African Hoopoe in Table Mountain National Park on a given day, against under 5% in January–February and April–November, the lowest months.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most African Hoopoe sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
24th of 24
Of the 24 parks where we can rate African Hoopoe sightings, Table Mountain National Park ranks 24th at under 5%. The best odds are in uMkhuze Game Reserve (South Africa, about 40%), Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park (South Africa, about 40%) and Lake Nakuru National Park (Kenya, about 40%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the African Hoopoe is recorded against all the birds logged in Table Mountain National Park (12 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
