Green Wood Hoopoe
Phoeniculus purpureus
Silhouette: Jon Hill (Photo by DickDaniels: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Green_Woodhoopoe_RWD7.jpg) · PhyloPic
- KingdomAnimalia (Animals)
- PhylumChordata (Chordates)
- ClassAves (Birds)
- OrderBucerotiformes (Hornbills and Hoopoes)
- FamilyPhoeniculidae (Woodhoopoes and Scimitarbills)
- GenusPhoeniculus (Woodhoopoes)
- SpeciesPhoeniculus purpureus (Green Wood Hoopoe)
About the Green Wood Hoopoe
The green wood hoopoe (Phoeniculus purpureus) is a large, up to 44 cm (17 in) long tropical bird native to Africa. It is a member of the family Phoeniculidae, the wood hoopoes, and was formerly known as the red-billed wood hoopoe.
In 1784 the English illustrator John Frederick Miller included a hand-coloured plate of the green wood hoopoe in his Icones animalium et plantarum. He coined the binomial name Promerops purpureus and mistakenly specified the type locality as eastern India. The green wood hoopoe is now one of five species placed in the genus Phoeniculus that was introduced in 1821 by the Polish zoologist Feliks Paweł Jarocki.
Six subspecies are recognised: P. p. senegalensis (Vieillot, 1822) – south Senegal to south Ghana P. p. guineensis (Reichenow, 1902) – north Senegal and Gambia to Chad and Central African Republic P. p. niloticus (Neumann, 1903) – Sudan to west Ethiopia and northeast DR Congo
P. p. marwitzi (Reichenow, 1906) – east Uganda and Kenya to east South Africa P. p. angolensis (Reichenow, 1902) – Angola and west Zambia to northeast Namibia and north Botswana P. p. purpureus (Miller, JF, 1784) – central, southwest South Africa
The green wood hoopoe... Wikipedia →
Recent sightings of Green Wood Hoopoe in Tsavo East National Park
LIVEiNaturalistClosest Relatives at Tsavo East National Park
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Phoeniculus granti
Violet Wood Hoopoe
Phoeniculus damarensis
Common Scimitarbill
Rhinopomastus cyanomelas
Abyssinian Scimitarbill
Rhinopomastus minor
Northern Red-billed Hornbill
Tockus erythrorhynchus
Von der Decken's Hornbill
Tockus deckeni
African Grey Hornbill
Lophoceros nasutus
Trumpeter Hornbill
Bycanistes bucinator
Common Hoopoe
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Eastern Yellow-billed Hornbill
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African Hoopoe
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Crowned Hornbill
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Global Distribution
Warmer areas are where this animal is recorded most often.
Parks Where Found
Quick answers
What are the chances of seeing a Green Wood Hoopoe in Tsavo East National Park?
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Green Wood Hoopoe sighting in Tsavo East National Park, based on 202 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data.
When is the best time to see Green Wood Hoopoe in Tsavo East National Park?
September has the highest sighting rate for Green Wood Hoopoe in Tsavo East National Park in our monthly data.