Fischer's Turaco Tauraco fischeri Scientific name definitions

c. 40 cm; male 230–269 g, female 227–283 g. Unmistakable with white-tipped crimson crest , blackish at tallest point; nape also crimson; upperparts , including wings , rump and tail , greenish blue; lower belly blackish; primaries and inner secondaries crimson; white line from front of eye to bill separated from one under eye and extending to ear-coverts by small black loral patch ; eye brown, bare orbital skin red , surrounded by thin black ring; bill bright red; legs and feet blackish. Immature similar. Race zanzibaricus differs in having upperparts, wings, rump and tail violet-blue, not greenish blue.

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Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Forest and wooded thickets, favouring canopy and sub-canopy of mature fruiting trees. Sea-level to 1250 m, rarely 1450 m.

Largely sedentary in all areas.

Primarily a fruit-eater  : particular preference for the yellow berries of Pachystela brevipes. Also flower buds and young, pale green leaf shoots of Afzelia cuanzensis. Occasionally eats insects which it encounters opportunistically while foraging.

Main call a series of 14–18 raucous cawing notes, initially starting faint with less harsh notes, then louder and slightly accelerating, delivered at a mean pace of c. 1·9–2·2 notes/second.

Breeds Jun in Kenya. Nest a frail platform of twigs placed 3–10 m above ground in thick tree foliage. Lays 2 almost spherical off-white eggs; incubation 22–23 days, by both sexes. Newly hatched young are covered in dark brown down, and as early as 10 days are hopping and crawling among nearby branches.

Not globally threatened. CITES II. Currently considered near-threatened. Both races seriously affected by trapping and continuing clearance of coastal forests. The world population probably numbers no more than 2000 individuals, and the conservation status of this turaco may require re-evaluation. The population is small and endangered in S Somalia, where the species is restricted to the lower Juba Valley, while in Kenya and NE Tanzania it is common only in the Shimba Hills National Park and the E Usambara lowland forests. Race zanzibaricus restricted to Zanzibar, where total population probably under 50 pairs.