Upupa epops

La Abubilla. Hoopoe. Harjalintu in Finnish.

National bird of Israel.

This is a funny fellow. It flies like a butterfly so it's hard to catch on camera. We see these birds every morning when we take out the dogs. They feast on the field next to us. They eat bugs and caterpillars. They use their long beak to dig the ground and feces in search of nourishment.

It's a very pretty bird IMO. It has a funny sound. It says up-up-up in Finnish pronunciation. It's name is usually give according what the singing sounds like to each language.

In Spanish the Hoopoe has different names according to the regions. Here in the  Communintat Valencia, Catalonia and Baleares it's called Puput, Palput or Porput.  (Go figure which one to use in a conversation.)


In Aragon it is popularly known as Gurgute, Cucute and Cuscute.



In some areas of Castile and Aragon it's known as Cucuta or Cucut.



In the Canary Islands as Apupu or Tabobo.



In Galicia it has the name Bubela.



In Murcia it's known with the name Parputa.



In the Leon region of La Maragatería it's known with the name Budibilla.



In Navarra it is called Gallico de San Martín.



In Extremadura it is known as Poipa.


Talk about how a beloved child has many names. (Finnish saying).


All this according to what I was finding out from the world wide web. I've been trying to a book about the local birds and plants, but have not found one in local library nor book shops. Amazon has few, but as the Correos is not to be trusted here, I don't want to spend my money on something that most likely will take months to come or will never arrive. When we'll be living in our own house permanently, it will be easier to order stuff in. Then it doesn't matter if it arrives years later.