English to Spanish Art/Literary Poetry & Literature Birds

14: The exotics
'As for hoopoes, their gypsy plumage made them every artist's favourite. One watercolour by Michael Warren was like a piece of magic realism by Rousseau. The hoopoe sits heraldic in a fig tree, against a dehesa changed in the sunset to the same russet and cinnamon tones.'

A Brush With Nature
Richard Mabey

Hoopoes
One of the birds that most grabs the attention of visitors to Almería province is the hoopoe, a classic Mediterranean species. In Birds Britannica, Mark Cocker writes: ‘Most Britons first encounter the species during Mediterranean holidays, where hoopoes are routinely seen in hotel grounds.” Its call is a triple note, a soft, far-carrying ‘hoo hoo hoo’ or ‘oop oop oop’, hence its English name ‘hoopoe’. Its Spanish name, abubilla, is similarly onomatopoeic, as is its Latin name Upupa epops. It is at the same time amusing and beautiful. Together with the roller and the bee-eater, it forms a trio sometimes known as ‘the exotics’.