Exploring Pigeon Valley: The Green Woodhoopoe

This is the 80th article in an ongoing series that highlights the riches of Pigeon Valley, the urban nature reserve in the heart of Glenwood. The focus of this article is on the Green Woodhoopoe.

Through suburban areas like ours, a distinctive call suddenly cuts through the sounds we are accustomed to, a series of cackles, as a group of birds moves through the trees. These are the Green Woodhoopoes (formerly Red-billed); when the sun catches the feathers, it reveals the green sheen that gives the bird its names.

We see them inspecting trees and probing with their resplendent bills into crevices for insects, often hanging at odd angles to get access, before moving to the next tree. They also feed on the ground, and, where these are available, in termite mounds. We may see dead wood as unsightly, but it is in the decay of wood that other forms of life flourish, ensuring the food supply for such birds. The species is widespread in woodland across parts of Africa.

ALSO READ: Exploring Pigeon Valley: The Purble-banded Sunbird

The isiZulu name for the bird is iNhlekabafazi, the laughter of women, which indicates how names of natural beings carry aspects of gender and culture. Sometimes they carry out a loud and colourful display of swaying back and forth; today I sent out a version of this column early in the morning. Two hours later I encountered the local group engaging in a splendidly loud and cacophonous display, as if they knew I had been writing about them.

I had not realised until reading recently that they practise flagwaving, taking an object like lichen into the bill and swaying, sometimes even passing it around.Like the White-eared Barbets, the Woodhoopoes are highly co-operative. They roost together in a tree hollow and only one pair within the group breeds, while all birds take on the task of feeding the breeding female during incubation and the young when they are fledged. Each group has its territory and traverses it like a troop of monkeys.

Crispin Hemson chairs the Friends of Pigeon Valley, a group that undertakes clearing of alien plants, keeps records of bird and mammal sightings and alerts management to any problems.

The Friends have a monthly walk at 7.30am on the second Saturday of each month. Email: friendsofpigeonvalley1@gmail.com.

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At the time of going to press, the contents of this feature mirrored South Africa’s lockdown regulations.

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