India! Hoopoe

Eurasian Hoopoe: Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India, March 2023 — Right a the end of the access road, a long walk but easily reachable by rickshaw, there is a little canteen and picnic grounds and an isolated temple. In my two visits there it was always a great place for birds. They seemed to enjoy the lawns and the exposed trees. We saw Hoopoes several different places in Rajasthan, but they were particularly uncooperative as photographic subjects. This is the only one I managed a decent photo of, and only got 2 frames before it flew off. The Hoopoe is an interesting bird, odd looking certainly, but also taxonomically interesting. It currently occupies its own genus, with three species, Eurasian, African, and Madagascar, along with, according to some authorities, the wood hoopoe. The genus is placed in the same clade as the kingfishers, bee-eaters, and rollers. A consensus is developing that it really belongs with the hornbills, and some are resistant to whole three species thing…it might be only one species. Interesting, if you are into that kind of thing. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 500 @ f4 @ 1/500th. +1EV.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *