Wikipedia's first sentence called it “most widespread species of the genus upupa”. Today it says “most widespread species of hoopoe”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Species of bird Distribution of Upupa species”. It now reads “Species of bird Distribution of Upupa species Eurasian hoopoe (breeding)”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the October 6, 2023 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in October 6, 2023
Eurasian hoopoe (breeding) Eurasian hoopoe (resident) Eurasian hoopoe (wintering) Madagascar hoopoe African hoopoe The Eurasian hoopoe ( Upupa epops ) is the most widespread species of the genus Upupa . It is a distinctive cinnamon coloured bird with black and white wings, a tall erectile crest, a broad white band across a black tail, and a long narrow downcurved bill. Its call is a soft "oop-oop-oop". It is native to Europe , Asia and the northern half of Africa .1 It is migratory in the northern part of its range. It spends most of the time on the ground probing for grubs and insects. The clutch of seven to eight eggs is laid in an existing cavity. The eggs are incubated by the female and hatch asynchronously. Some ornithologists treat the African and Madagascar hoopoes as subspecies of the Eurasian hoopoe.2
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1168595509.
The opening as it stood in 2020
Combined distribution of all species of Upupa : Light green Upupa africana (African hoopoe) Orange, blue, dark green Upupa epops (Eurasian hoopoe) Brown Upupa marginata (Madagascar hoopoe) The Eurasian hoopoe ( Upupa epops ) is the most widespread species of the genus Upupa , native to Europe, Asia and the northern half of Africa. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2012 .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 965375115.
The opening as it stood in 2025 5 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Species of bird Distribution of Upupa species Eurasian hoopoe (breeding) Eurasian hoopoe (resident) Eurasian hoopoe (wintering) Madagascar hoopoe African hoopoe The Eurasian hoopoe ( Upupa epops ) is the most widespread species of the genus Upupa . It is a distinctive cinnamon coloured bird with black and white wings, a tall erectile crest, a broad white band across a black tail, and a long narrow downcurved bill. Its call is a soft "oop-oop-oop". The Eurasian hoopoe is native to Europe , Asia and Africa . It is migratory in the northern part of its range. Some ornithologists consider the Madagascar hoopoes as a subspecies .The African hoopoe, subspecies U. e. africana has sometimes been treated as a separate species.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1291154473. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “most widespread species of the genus upupa”. Today it says “most widespread species of hoopoe”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Species of bird Distribution of Upupa species”. It now reads “Species of bird Distribution of Upupa species Eurasian hoopoe (breeding)”. Read the current article and compare.
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since October 7, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
most widespread species of the genus upupa
Now
most widespread species of hoopoe
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
