Black-billed Wood Hoopoe (Phoeniculus somaliensis)
About the Black-billed Wood Hoopoe
The black-billed wood hoopoe (Phoeniculus somaliensis) is a species of bird in the family Phoeniculidae. It is native to eastern Africa where it is found in wooded and scrubby areas. The black-billed wood hoopoe is very similar to the green wood hoopoe (Phoeniculus purpureus) in appearance, but lacks the greenish gloss on the head and mantle and has a black beak rather than a red one, though there is sometimes a reddish tinge at the base of the beak. The sexes are similar and the adult bird is about 37 cm (15 in) long. The plumage is generally black with a bluish or purplish gloss, and a row of white spots on the flight feathers giving a white bar on the wings in flight. The long, graduated tail has white spots at the edge.
No audio on this page yet
We only publish recordings we may use commercially, because this site is supported by ads. xeno-canto lists 7 recordings for this species: 5 CC BY-NC-SA · 2 CC BY-NC-ND. None of them permits commercial use, so there is no player here — the page is kept as a profile so the bird is not missing from the guide.
As soon as someone uploads a freely licensed recording, we mirror it and the player appears here.
Listed as recorded in Ethiopia in the xeno-canto catalogue.
Related species you can hear
- Green Wood HoopoePhoeniculus purpureusrecording
This species has no recording here yet — these relatives do, so you can hear what the family sounds like.