Walked out of my hotel room in Luxor and found a hoopoe digging in the grass. I watched him probe the soft ground with that long beak searching for insects. He was not afraid at all.
These marvelously colored (and crested!) creatures are a symbol of royalty and wisdom in ancient Egypt. They appear in the Bible (Lev 11:13-19 and Deut 14:11-18) as one of the 20 inedible birds.
The hoopoe (Upupa epops) is also found in Islamic folklore (often attached to stories about King Solomon). In Arabic it is known as a hudhud (which is fun to say!).
