Long-Beaked Hoopoe

One of my very favorite birds is the hoopoe (Upupa epops). I first saw the Eurasian hoopoe in Portugal near the Sado Estuary. There are six to nine subspecies, depending upon the source you look at. It was the nominate subspecies (U.e. epops) found in northwest Africa, Europe east to south central Russia, northwest China and northwest India. I recently saw a different subspecies in Kaziranga NP in Assam, India (U.e. longirostrus). Longirostrus means long-beaked in English. It is found in northeast India to south China, Indochina and north Malay Peninsula. It is larger (apparently including the beak) and more pale than the nominate subspecies. 

It was in the Central Range of Kaziranga on a dead tree stump which perfectly illustrated its camouflaged body. Look at this photo below. 

Hoopoe melding perfectly into the tree stump. 

I took lots of photos and the hoopoe did not move much. It is a fairly small bird and was quite far away. One of my favorite photos of the trip was the following, the hoopoe balanced between two jutting up stems of the stump. 

I believe it was a little soggy and the feathers gave the ragged look of a wet bird.