Violet Turaco Musophaga violacea Scientific name definitions

c. 50 cm; c. 360 g. Adult has crown and nape crimson, the feathers short and velvety; ear-coverts silky white; chin, throat  and neck glossy violaceous blue-black; upper­parts and wing-coverts violet-blue; tail violet-blue, washed with green; breast to upper belly violaceous blue-black, strongly washed with moss-green; lower belly and thighs matt black; primaries  and outer secondaries crimson , tipped brown; bill red, with convex yellow frontal shield or casque  extending back on forehead to a point level with rear edge of eyes; eyes dark brown, with bare orbital ring red  ; bare loral patch and area around eye bright red; legs and feet black or greenish black. Juvenile  rather “crow-like”, lacking conspicuous head and bill colours of adult: bill  blackish with swollen base but without frontal shield, lores and small area under eyes naked and dark, rest of head matt black, with remainder of body plumage similar to adult.

S Senegambia and Guinea E to N Nigeria and NW Cameroon, extending S to the coast in Ivory Coast, Ghana and Togo (but not in Sierra Leone, Liberia or Nigeria); also an apparently isolated population in extreme S Chad and N Central African Republic.

Typically in gallery forest , forest edge and fringing forests along watercourses in mesic or arid savannas; also occasionally in tall, well-timbered suburban parks and gardens. Sea-level to 1000 m.

Very little precise information available. Species is probably sedentary, or at least mainly so; however, it appears to be vagrant to Sierra Leone, where only two records, one of them from 19th century.

Primarily fruits , berries and seeds, with figs (Ficus) favoured at all times.

Main call a series of rather dove-like mellow rolling notes, often given simultaneously by several birds or alternated with a short series of cackling notes, “korrroo..korrroo..korrroo..kah-kah-kah-kah..korrroo..korrroo…”.

Breeds in Apr in Senegambia, Jun–Oct in Nigeria. Nest a fragile pigeon-type platform of sticks and twigs, some 6 m above ground in a leafy tree. Lays 2 oval, greyish white eggs, not glossy; incubation 25–26 days, by both sexes.

Not globally threatened. Locally common in several areas, and possibly even very common in some places, but no detailed data on numbers. Populations in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Ghana are heavily impacted by indiscriminate trapping for bird-export trade. CITES III in Ghana.