The violet wood hoopoe (Phoeniculus damarensis) is a species of bird in the family Phoeniculidae. It is found in Angola, Kenya, Namibia, and Tanzania. It looks similar to the black-billed wood hoopoe but with a red beak and a green throat. It has coppery and violet mantle feathers.[1]
Grant's wood hoopoe (P. d. granti) is sometimes considered a full species. Due to genetic similarities in mitochondrial DNA analysis between the violet woodhoopoe and the green woodhoopoe, some believe the violet woodhoopoe is not a separate species from the green woodhoopoe.[2] However, some scholars suggest the violet woodhoopoe is indeed its own species, based on different foraging patterns attributed to its more terrestrial foraging juxtaposed to the green woodhoopoe's arboreal foraging.[3]