Black-billed Turaco Tauraco schuettii Scientific name definitions

c. 40 cm; male 215–267 g, female 199–272 g. Adult very similar to <em>T. persa</em> , but with a small and almost all-black bill , and a more evenly rounded crest tipped with white. Mantle, rump, uppertail-coverts and folded wings violet-blue; lower breast  to undertail-coverts dusky; white line in front of and under the eye separated by a thin black loral patch; eyes hazel-brown; eyelids and orbital skin above and behind eye red; base of lower mandible dark red; legs and feet blackish. Immature similar to adult, but bill entirely black. Race emini  has mantle, rump, uppertail-coverts and folded wings dark green; also many blue intermediates between this and violet-blue nominate birds.

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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.

Canopy of lowland, intermediate and montane evergreen forest , from 500 m to 2800 m.

Main call is a series of 10–22 raucous cawing notes, initially starting faint, then becoming faster and louder, delivered at a mean pace of c. 2·5–2·75 notes/second.

Not globally threatened. CITES II. Plentiful throughout much of its range, particularly in Zaire, where its resonant “khaw, khaw, khaw...”  call is one of the most characteristic year-round sounds of the forest.