12.04 Day 208 . . . A Hoopoe Calls

So waking up at 4am wasn’t the plan. So after a few hours of trying to go to sleep, speaking to Craig on WhatsApp as he was awake as well, watching a bee keeping course and other rubbish social media rubbish I finally drifted back off to sleep just before 8am - then waking at 1015am. Tre had only just woken up from a full nights kip 😂
Tre made tea in bed at which point we heard the same sound we had heard the day before yesterday emanating from the forest area across the road. Once heard you will never forget it. A batch of three or four hooping calls. Bird chirp activated the result came back as a Hoopoe. We have been waiting to see one of these birds, but at least we have now heard one.
Hoopoes are colourful birds found across Africa, Asia, and Europe, notable for their distinctive "crown" of feathers. Three living and one extinct species are recognized, though for many years all of the extant species were lumped as a single species. The Eurasian hoopoe is common in its range and has a large population, so it is evaluated as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. However, their numbers are declining in Western Europe.Conversely, the hoopoe has been increasing in numbers at the tip of the South Sinai, Sharm el-Sheikh. There are dozens of nesting pairs that remain resident all year round.
The diet of the hoopoe includes many species considered by humans to be pests, such as the pupae of the processionary moth, a damaging forest pest which few other birds will eat because of its irritating hairs. For this reason the species is afforded protection under the law in many countries.
Hoopoes are distinctive birds and have made a cultural impact over much of their range. They were considered sacred in Ancient Egypt, and were "depicted on the walls of tombs and temples". At the Old Kingdom, the hoopoe was used in the iconography as a symbolic code to indicate the child was the heir and successor of his father. They achieved a similar standing in Minoan Crete.
In the Torah, Leviticus 11:13–19, hoopoes were listed among the animals that are detestable and should not be eaten. They are also listed in Deuteronomy as not kosher.
The Hoopoe, known as the hudhud (هُدْهُد), also appears with King Solomon in the Quran in Surah 27
‎ٱلنَّمْل Al-Naml (The Ant):
And [Solomon] took attendance of the birds and said, "Why do I not see the hoopoe – or is he among the absent? I will surely punish him with a severe punishment or slaughter him unless he brings me clear authorization."
The connection of the hoopoe with Solomon and the Queen of Sheba in the Qur'anic tradition is mentioned in passing in Rudyard Kipling's Just So story "The Butterfly that Stamped".
In the pre-Islamic Vainakh religion of Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan the hoopoe was sacred to the goddess Tusholi and known as "Tusholi's hen". As her bird, it could only be hunted with the express permission of the goddess's high priest, and even then only for strictly medicinal purposes.
Hoopoes were seen as a symbol of virtue in Persia. A hoopoe was a leader of the birds in the Persian book of poems The Conference of the Birds and when the birds seek a king, the hoopoe points out that the Simurgh was the king of the birds.
Hoopoes were thought of as thieves across much of Europe, and harbingers of war in Scandinavia. In Estonian tradition, hoopoes are strongly connected with death and the underworld; their song is believed to foreshadow death for many people or cattle. In medieval ritual magic, the hoopoe was thought to be an evil bird. The Munich Manual of Demonic Magic, a collection of magical spells compiled in Germany frequently requires the sacrifice of a hoopoe to summon demons and perform other magical intentions.
The bird's crest indicates his royal status, and his long, sharp beak is a symbol of his violent nature. English translators and poets probably had the northern lapwing in mind, considering its crest.
The hoopoe was chosen as the national bird of Israel in May 2008 in conjunction with the country's 60th anniversary, following a national survey of 155,000 citizens, outpolling the white-spectacled bulbul. The hoopoe appears on the logo of the University of Johannesburg and is the official mascot of the university's sports teams. The municipalities of Armstedt and Brechten, Germany, have a hoopoe in their coats of arms.
After recording and identifying our new favourite never seen bird - we made it downstairs for breakfast.
Then the day fell away as it was another day being slave to the accounts spreadsheet, calling banks and companies, signing off letters and generally getting a back ache hunched over the laptop.
At 6pm we called it a day and sat down to have a glass of Rivesaltes in front of the TV.
We had lentil chilli and salad for our evening meal and then sat to watch TV again, the occasional shower now appearing, tapping on the windows. I kept an eye on the Real Madrid v Chelsea game, not quite the car crash I had expected - just a 2-0 defeat.
We both went to bed about 1030pm and watched some bits on social media that did make us laugh and that was it.
15 Sleeps to go!!Read more