24 Extraordinarily Beautiful Birds You Might Not Have Heard About

Eurasian Hoopoe (Upupa epops): Hoopoes are colourful birds found across Africa, Asia, and Europe, notable for their distinctive crown of feathers. Three living and one extinct species are recognised, though for many years all of the extant species were lumped as a single species—Upupa epops. In fact, some taxonomists still consider all three species conspecific. Some authorities also keep the African and Eurasian hoopoe together, but split the Madagascar hoopoe. Photo credit: Katherine Nicola