Hoopoe . . . Israel’s National Bird

Why the Hoopoe?  

For starters,  King Solomon sent a letter to the Queen of Sheba affixed to the wing of a hoopoe.
The hoopoe is also mentioned in the Talmud and Torah.

But it was by public vote that, in 2008, as part of Israel's 60th Anniversary celebrations,
the hoopoe took its place as Israel's national bird.

These small birds are hard to spot but if you’re vigilant you might just spot one foraging in closely cropped grass or perched on the side of a tree.  

The hoopoe requires bare or lightly vegetated ground on which to forage and vertical surfaces with cavities for nesting:
trees, cliffs & walls, haystacks, and abandoned burrows. They feed on insects, small reptiles, frogs, seeds & berries.   

It is a solitary forager, using its long slender bill to penetrate the earth in pursuit of larvae, pupae, and mole crickets.