- Tauraco livingstonii
Identification
Length 40-45 cm, mass 250-380 g.
Adult: The red bill is short with a decurved upper mandible. The eye is brown with deep red eye ring, and is underlined with a white stripe. It has a dark blue-green tail and the wing coverts are olive green. The primary flight feathers are bright red, conspicuous in flight, but difficult to see on the folded wing. It has a tall (62-72 mm), pointed crest, which is green, and tipped with white.
The call is a loud, harsh, barking 'korr, korr, korr, korr, korr, korr, .....' (up to 15 notes).
Variations
T. l. reichenowi has a slightly longer crest than the nominate race and is more blue on the back, wings and tail.
Similar Species
Similar to Knysna Turaco, which has a shorter, rounded crest.
Distribution
Eastern Africa: Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, eastern Zimbabwe highlands, extreme eastern (coastal) South Africa and eastern eSwatini.
Taxonomy
The treatment of the Knysna Turaco, Livingstone's Turaco and Schalow's Turaco (the green Turacos of southern Africa) as separate species is supported by morphological, vocal and molecular evidence.
Subspecies
Tauraco livingstonii has two subspecies[1]:
- T. l. reichenowi:
- Tanzania (Nguru and Uluguru Mountains to Njombe Highlands)
- T. l. cabanisi:
- Coastal lowlands of Tanzania to Mozambique and north-eastern Zululand
- T. l. livingstonii:
- Highlands of Malawi to Mozambique and eastern Zimbabwe
Habitat
Evergreen forest and wooded valleys.
Behaviour
Diet
They forage in the forest canopy and understory and feeding almost exclusively on fruit.
Breeding
Nests are placed 4-8 m above the ground in trees. One to two eggs are laid September to February.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2021. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2021. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Hockey, PAR, WRJ Dean, and PG Ryan, eds. 2005. Roberts' Birds of Southern Africa. 7th ed. Cape Town: John Voelcker Bird Book Fund. ISBN 978-0620340533
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Livingstone's Turaco. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 4 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Livingstone%27s_Turaco
