Upupa epops
Upupa epops
The Eurasian Hoopoe is a species characteristic of the temperate regions of the Palearctic (BirdLife International, 2024). In Europe it occupies the entire continent except the British Isles, Fennoscandia, and the northern half of Russia (Keller et al., 2020). In Spain it is distributed uniformly across the peninsula, except along the coastal Atlantic strip and the axial Pyrenees, where it is absent. It nests in the Balearic and Canary archipelagos, as well as in Ceuta and Melilla (Martín-Vivaldi in SEO/BirdLife, 2022).
In the Community of Madrid it is a widely distributed species, although it becomes scarce in high-mountain areas and in some arid enclaves in the southeast. It occupies diverse environments, showing a preference for dehesas, irrigated valleys, and grasslands, always relying on cavities in mature trees or in human constructions (Díaz et al., 1994).
Within the national park it has been recorded only at three locations situated in the warmest and lowest-altitude areas of the southern foothills of the Sierra de los Porrones, La Pedriza, and El Hueco de San Blas.
This species, with a broad ecological niche, uses a variety of environments for breeding as long as it finds the necessary elements for reproduction, such as scattered trees, walls, poles, or buildings for perching and nesting (Rehsteiner, 1996). Optimal habitats include open woodland formations such as dehesas, agricultural mosaics and tree crops, as well as grasslands and riparian woodlands. Open juniper stands or even young forest plantations may also host high densities (Díaz et al., 1996; Bárbaro et al., 2008; Martín-Vivaldi et al., 2016).
In the national park it has been recorded in riparian groves, scrub–grassland areas, and foothill zones with ash stands, holm oaks, and open woodlands.
At the global scale, it is classified as Least Concern (LC; 2020). In Europe it is also placed in the same category (LC; 2021). In Spain, it is considered Least Concern in the 2021 Red List.
The Threatened Species Catalogue of the Community of Madrid (1992) does not list the species under any threat category.
Barbaro, L., Couzi, L., Bretagnolle, V., Nezan, J. y Vetillard, F. 2008. Multi-scale habitat selection and foraging ecology of the Eurasian Hoopoe (Upupa epops) in pine plantations. Biodiversity and Conservation, 17: 1.073-1.087.
BirdLife International 2024. IUCN Red List for birds. https://datazone.birdlife.org.
Díaz, M., Asensio, B. y Tellería, J. L. 1996. Aves Ibéricas I. No paseriformes. J. M. Reyero. Madrid.
Díaz, M., Martí, R., Gómez-Manzaneque, Á. y Sánchez, A. 1994. Atlas de las aves nidificantes en Madrid. Agencia de Medio Ambiente y SEO/BirdLife. Madrid.
Keller, V., Herrando, S., Voříšek, P., Franch, M., Kipson, M., Milanesi, P., Martí, D., Antón, M., Klvaňová, A., Kalyakin, M. V. Bauer, H. Gr y Foppen, R. P. B. 2020. European Breeding Bird Atlas 2: Distribution, Abundance and Change. European Birds Census Council y Lynx Edicions. Barcelona.
Martín-Vivaldi, M., Doña, J., Romero Masegosa, J., Soto Cárdenas, M. 2016. Abubilla–Upupa epops. En Salvador, A. y Morales, M. B. (eds.): Enciclopedia Virtual de los Vertebrados Españoles. Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales. Madrid.
Rehsteiner, U. 1996. Abundance and habitat requirements of the Hoopoe Upupa epops in Extremadura (Spain). Der Ornithologische Beobachter, 93: 277-287.
SEO/BirdLife (Molina, B., Nebreda, A., Muñoz, A. R., Seoane, J., Real, R., Bustamante, J. y Del Moral, J. C., eds.). 2022. III Atlas de las aves en época de reproducción en España. SEO/BirdLife. Madrid.