Hoopoes: Upupidae

Hoopoes inhabit lightly timbered temperate climates that have cold winters and warm summers. They prefer open and semi-open country with bare earthen patches or short grasses, usually with some trees. Such country include pastures, cultivated grounds, wooded farmlands, parklands, orchards, gardens, vineyards, woodlands, edges and clearings, steppes (treeless plains), plains (large amount of dry lands with few trees), dry and wooded savannas (flat grasslands), river valleys, foothills, scrublands, semi-deserts, and, in Southeast Asia, coastal dune scrublands. Within these areas, they look for cavities (hollow areas) in trees, walls, rocks, dirt banks, or termite mounds for their nests. Hoopoes stay away from damp areas. They range elevations up to 10,170 feet (3,100 meters), but normally are found below 6,560 feet (2,000 meters).