Habitat loss and the deterioration of habitat quality, for example due to intensive agriculture or climate change, are the main causes of the budding biodiversity crisis. It is sometimes minor changes in the landscape, hardly noticeable to us, that can cause species to disappear from a region.

In the case of the hoopoe, these were a lack of breeding cavities and the decline of large insects as a food source. Thus, the hoopoe with its characteristic "Oop-oop-oop" song disappeared almost completely from the Swiss Central Plateau in the 1970s, and the population also fell to a minimum in the Valais. Only thanks to targeted promotion measures with a large number of nest boxes in the valleys has the Valais hoopoe population been able to grow by a factor of five since 1980. Such success stories illustrate that with the necessary ecological knowledge and appropriate support projects, we can indeed protect species and save them from extinction.

Can you find possible breeding holes for the hoopoe in the surrounding area, e.g. abandoned woodpecker holes, branch holes or wall cracks?