Green Wood-Hoopoe

 

The Energetic Green Wood-Hoopoe

Some birds simply refuse to cooperate when I attempt to take their photographs. For years, these sprightly avian wonders have thwarted dozens of my attempts to capture their beauty. I see them frolicking from my kitchen window, but when I run for my camera, they bop around so fast that I end up with a tip of a tail, or a bunch of leaves, or a blur of something completely unidentifiable. 

During a recent trip to @mosethlathebushcamp in @madikwe, we found a family of these red-beaked cacklers hopping in and out of a dead tree they probably called home. I felt as if I had struck gold because they never perch for long, but there were enough of them on the leafless tree that I thought I might get lucky.

I snapped and snapped, hoping I would capture one or two good shots. My photo doesn’t do them justice, but you can see the bright red beaks, the glossy greenish feathers, and the splashes of white. Gorgeous. They are social birds, flitting around touching base with each other while unearthing yummy little bugs to eat. And they are not quiet. They cackle like crazy kukumukus, sometimes all of them cackling at the same time, communicating some tidbit of gossip to each other, sometimes fanning their tails as another way to relay information.  

I also got lucky, well, sort of lucky yesterday. I was at home, and suddenly I heard them cackling all around my house. I ran outside to locate the flock, and there they were, several on the carport, more on the roof across the street, in the trees. What a cacophony of chattering!!! I grabbed my phone to video the sound. But, of course, as soon as I turned on the video, they more or less quieted and flew away. Argh, but I did get a little clip. 

In Zulu, the bird is called – iNhlekabafazi. Translated, it means “the laughter of women, rather unflatteringly, likening the laughing of women to raucous cackles.” 

I know I shouldn’t have found this funny, but I did laugh aloud.

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