Israel Picks National Bird, The Hoopoe

May 30, 2008 - 11:36 AM by

With bated breath, Israelis waited for Shimon Peres’ announcement yesterday: Israel’s National Bird will be the … (drum roll) …

Israel chooses its national bird as the hoopoe israelity pictures.jpg

The hoopoe!

Known as “Duchifat” (doo-khi-faht) in Hebrew, we had our first exposure to the hoopoe through Salman Rushdie’s novel, Haroun and the Sea of Stories, where Haroun the protagonist gets a mechanical hoopoe bird to fly him to the Land of Gup. A good read.

If you’ve even been to Israel you can see these delightful-looking birds, with a majestic headpiece, flying through Israel which is a migratory bottleneck for millions of birds heading to Europe or back to Africa.

According to the Haaretz newspaper, the hoopoe garnered 35 percent of the popular vote, barely edging out the goldfinch and the warbler. However, it won the unanimous support of a public committee, and since the national bird committee’s vote was worth one-quarter of the total vote, that gave the hoopoe a decisive victory.

In the birdwatching community, reactions to the results were mixed. Alon said he had supported the goldfinch at the beginning of the process. “The finch’s numbers are declining and it is being hunted,” he explained.

Dr Uzi Paz, a veteran birder and former head of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, supported the warbler: “That is a bird I researched, so I was rooting for it.”

The Bible mentions the hoopoe as a non-kosher bird, and the Quran tells a tale of King Solomon who spoke to animals and told the hoopoe of his visit to the Queen of Sheba’s land.

James, a Green Prophet, has been following the vote for some time, writing a series of posts about the vote here, here, here and here; and also over on Jewcy where he talks about an unusual bird that sings in his garden. Worth a read.

Our boyfriend asked us, “Why the hoopoe? Israel should have picked the dove.” Cute. We hadn’t even thought of that possibility. What do you think? Was the hoopoe the right choice for Israel?

Haaretz

Tags: , , , • Category: A New Reality, Environment, General 

Comments

7 Comments on Israel Picks National Bird, The Hoopoe

  1. David-Joe on Sat, May 31st 2008 12:57 AM

    2. It is a ridiculous looking bird. Israel does not need a “national bird” – the whole idea is idiotic that countries have them.

    The only bird that looks good is the Bald Eagle anyway.

  2. Neil on Sat, May 31st 2008 11:46 PM

    3. Parrots are colorful & intelligent birds. Tucans & flamingos are also beautiful birds.

  3. Chaim Rubin on Sun, Jun 1st 2008 5:11 AM

    4. The OBVIOUS choice for the Israeli national bird is the beautiful phoenix, referred to in Job 29:18, the only creature not to join Adam in his banishment from Eden, whose life cycle is to live to an ancient age, and emerge reborn from the ashes of its old incarnation.

  4. Nicky on Mon, Jun 2nd 2008 12:34 PM

    5. I think it should be the sparrow. There’s a veritable plague of them living in the roof of my house.

    I’m told in England, the sparrow population is decreasing rapidly – clearly because they’ve all heard about the great new digs in Israel.

  5. David All on Tue, Jun 3rd 2008 3:14 AM

    6. Hooray for the Hoopoe!

  6. kim segar on Tue, Jun 3rd 2008 5:01 PM

    7. Dove or Eagle, or sparrow…I always thot the eagle was their bird. but G-d has his eye on the sparrow and knows how many hairs on our head.the dove to me is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, Eagle like the head of the Nations SHE will be one day..G-d bless Eretz-Israel

  7. Rizwan Aziz Shah on Wed, Mar 25th 2009 1:31 AM

    8. Great! There couldn’t have been a better choice.

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