Black-billed Wood Hoopoe - BirdForum Opus

Photo by volker sthamer
Langano, Ethiopia, 2009

Phoeniculus somaliensis

Identification

33–38 cm (13-15 in)

• Blackish, very iridescent plumage

Distribution

Africa
Eastern Africa: found in Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya

Taxonomy

Considered by some to be a subspecies of Green Woodhoopoe ^[2]

Photo by Solomon
Degra/Segeneiti Eritrea, September 2005

Subspecies

There are 3 subspecies^[1]:

• P. s. somaliensis:

• South-eastern Ethiopia to western Somalia and north-eastern Kenya

• P. s. neglectus:

• Arid thornscrub of central Ethiopia

• P. s. abyssinicus:

• Northern Ethiopia and Eritrea

Habitat

Open wood and bushland, well wooded streams and parks.

Behaviour

Diet

Their diet consists mostly of arthropods, gleaned from the bark of trees. They often feed in a head down position.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2015. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2015, with updates to August 2015. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Avibase
3. BF Member observations
4. Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved November 2015)

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Black-billed Wood Hoopoe. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 14 May 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Black-billed_Wood_Hoopoe

External Links

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