The Eurasian hoopoe was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae.

[5] Six subspecies of the Eurasian hoopoe are recognised in the list of world birds maintained by Frank Gill, Pamela Rasmussen and David Donsker on behalf of the International Ornithological Committee (IOC).

[7] The species is highly distinctive, with a long, thin tapering bill that is black with a fawn base.

The hoopoe has broad and rounded wings capable of strong flight; these are larger in the northern migratory subspecies.

[8] The call is typically a trisyllabic oop-oop-oop, which may give rise to its English and scientific names, although two and four syllables are also common.

[19] The hoopoe has two basic requirements of its habitat: bare or lightly vegetated ground on which to forage and vertical surfaces with cavities (such as trees, cliffs or even walls, nestboxes, haystacks, and abandoned burrows[16]) in which to nest.

Hoopoes make seasonal movements in response to rain in some regions such as in Ceylon and in the Western Ghats.

[22] The diet of the Eurasian hoopoe is mostly composed of insects, although small reptiles, frogs and plant matter such as seeds and berries are sometimes taken as well.

More rarely they will feed in the air, where their strong and rounded wings make them fast and manoeuvrable, in pursuit of numerous swarming insects.

Insect larvae, pupae and mole crickets are detected by the bill and either extracted or dug out with the strong feet.

Hoopoes will also feed on insects on the surface, probe into piles of leaves, and even use the bill to lever large stones and flake off bark.

Larger prey items are beaten against the ground or a preferred stone to kill them and remove indigestible body parts such as wings and legs.

[7] The hoopoe genus is monogamous, although the pair bond apparently only lasts for a single season, and territorial.

The eggs are round and milky blue when laid, but quickly discolour in the increasingly dirty nest.

[16] Hoopoes show hatching asynchrony of eggs which is thought to allow for brood reduction when food availability is low.

[21] From the age of six days, nestlings can also direct streams of faeces at intruders, and will hiss at them in a snake-like fashion.

During the Old Kingdom, the hoopoe was used in the iconography as a symbolic code to indicate the child was the heir and successor of his father.

In Ovid's Metamorphoses, book 6, King Tereus of Thrace rapes Philomela, his wife Procne's sister, and cuts out her tongue.

When Tereus sees the boy's head, which is served on a platter, he grabs a sword but just as he attempts to kill the sisters, they are turned into birds—Procne into a swallow and Philomela into a nightingale.

[34] The bird's crest indicates his royal status, and his long, sharp beak is a symbol of his violent nature.

In Morocco, hoopoes are traded live and as medicinal products in the markets, primarily in herbalist shops.

This trade is unregulated and a potential threat to local populations[37] Three CGI enhanced hoopoes, together with other birds collectively named "the tittifers", are often shown whistling a song in the BBC children's television series In the Night Garden....