Hoopoe – National Bird of Israel

Posted by
Rosemary Drisdelle
Jun 19, 2008

In the lead up to Israel’s 60th birthday, people were busy collecting votes to choose a national bird. According to news reports, ordinary people, schoolchildren, the military, even Israelis living abroad had their say. A panel of poets, politicians and academics accounted for 25% of the result, while the remaining 75% of votes came from the people of Israel. 155,000 people voted, and 35% of them chose the Hoopoe, Upupa epops.

The Hoopoe (Duchifat in Hebrew) is a striking cinnamon colored bird with black and white striped wings and tail, and a crest of bright feathers on top of its head. It lives in Israel year round, and appears in the folklore of the region, both features that made it a good candidate. It is already the namesake of a commando unit in the Israeli military.

The effort to choose a national bird was a project of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel and, in part, an attempt to bring conservation issues into the public eye. The Hoopoe competed against nine other shortlisted species: bulbul, a falcon species, Griffon Vulture, Spur-winged Lapwing, honey-sucker, warbler, White-breasted Kingfisher, Barn Owl, and goldfinch.

Now that Israel has a national bird, there are plans to designate official birds of the country’s cities as well.