How do hoopoe nestlings defend themselves?

Hoopoe nestlings can defend themselves with foul-smelling secretions, a detail the guide says is generally omitted from descriptions of the bird's elegance. The guide gives no more on the secretions themselves, but it does describe where the young are raised: hoopoes nest in holes in trees, walls, and other structures, and in Latvia the bird occurs where such nest cavities are available beside sandy or sparsely vegetated feeding ground. So the nestlings sit in an enclosed cavity rather than an open nest. By comparison, the guide describes other birds defending young differently: lapwing adults give alarm calls and mob intruders near their chicks, and redshanks near a nest have limited tolerance of visitors and, as the guide puts it, communicate this without much ambiguity.

Sources

• Hoopoe
• Lapwings
• Redshanks

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