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.

Taxonomy

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. 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.