Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin (ISSN 0178 – 6288) . Number 140, August 2016, pp. 1-21. | Page 3

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The Hoopoe in Jericho, Palestine in 2003. Photo by my friend Imad Atrash, the Executive
Director of the Palestine Wildlife Society in Beit Sahour, Palestine.
According to one ancient Arabian tradition, for example, hoopoes originally bore
crests of solid gold, bestowed upon them by Prophet (King) Solomon in gratitude
for shielding him with their wings from the burning sun one day as he walked
through the desert. So many of their number were killed for this valuable
accoutrement, however, that eventually they came before Solomon, who was so
wise that he could even understand the language of birds, and beseeched him to
help them. Touched by their tragic plight, Solomon agreed to do so, as a result of
which the hoopoes’ crests were transformed from gold into feathers, thus saving
their species from extinction (Shuker, 2011).
The hoopoes are also said to have brought to Prophet Solomon the shamir –
described in the Talmud and Midrash as a tiny but very magical worm that could
cut through solid stone, and which greatly assisted him, therefore, in building his
First Temple in Jerusalem. (In a similar vein, the hoopoe is also credited with
knowledge of where to find a mystical plant called the springwort, whose touch
can break through the hardest rocks and stones.) And in the Holy Koran, it was
the hoopoe that discovered the Queen “Balqees” of Sheba and informed Prophet
Solomon of her existence. Other Arab traditions claim that the hoopoe could
Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin – Number 140 – August 2016