Edition 45: Winter 2008/9

Africa’s richly varied habitats and magnificent avifauna attract interested visitors from around the globe. In this series, Duncan Butchart profiles some of the continent’s most exciting birdwatching destinations.

“Kok-kok-kok-kok...” Gobbling and cackling excitedly from the top of a giant iron-plum tree, the birds might have been mistaken for a gaggle of demented turkeys trying to escape Christmas. But as I peered up through the forest foliage, six dazzling great blue turacos burst from cover, letting out a series of rolling “kurru-kurru-kurru” notes as they flapped one by one across the clearing.

With striking cobalt-blue upperparts, jaunty violet-blue crest and apple-green belly – coupled with a waxy yellow bill tipped in scarlet – the great blue turaco is a sight to behold. Larger than a crow, this extravagant, long-tailed frugivore belongs to a uniquely African bird family, with over twenty brilliantly-coloured members. In addition to the Knysna and Rwenzori turacos, there are a several turaco species named in honour of explorers and naturalists such as Livingstone, Hartlaub, Fischer, Bannerman and Ruspoli.

Like most others in its family, the great blue is a gregarious forest-dweller and frequently associates with green-pigeons, parrots, hornbills and barbets at fruiting trees. Thinly-fleshed olive-sized berries, as well as the fruit cones of musanga trees, are favoured above figs, but all manner of fruits might be taken. They’ll often return to bountiful trees day-after-day until the crop is exhausted. Leaf and flower buds are relished at certain times, but there is no evidence of insects or animals in their diet.

Great blue turacos (like all their smaller relatives) have a rather weak and clumsy flight, and prefer to climb into the canopy before launching themselves into another tree. They are agile when running and hopping along branches, no doubt aided by having mobile outer toes, which can point either forward or backward.

In their equatorial range, breeding may take place at any time of the year. Courting pairs bound through the upper branches of larger trees, babbling excitedly prior to their brief copulation. The nest is a shallow bowl of twigs and rootlets, remarkably insubstantial for such a large bird, and is usually set within a leafy tree. Both sexes not only share in the building of the nest, but also in the incubation of the eggs, which lasts around 30 days, and in feeding of the chicks. Young typically stay in the nest for two weeks or so before they clamber out into the world. Inexperienced young are vulnerable to goshawks and eagles but the adults have few enemies.

The magnificent feathers of all turacos are held in high esteem by many African societies, although it is often only the most important individuals (such as chiefs and kings) who are permitted to wear them in ceremonial dress.  

Five places to see a blue turaco
1. Kakamega Forest, western Kenya Family parties may be seen at the forest edge, but are regular visitors to the spectacular grounds of Rondo Retreat, where they combine with colobus monkeys to wake up guests each morning. www.rondoretreat.com
2. Lope National Park, Gabon A common resident of forest fringe and gallery forest where they feed alongside hornbills and monkeys. Libreville-based Mistral Voyages can arrange visits. www.ecotourisme-gabon.com
3. Korup National Park, Cameroon Present at the forest edge and often venturing into secondary forest near villages that is dominated by pioneer Musanga trees. www.mount-cameroon.org/korup
4. Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Uganda The cackling call has been known to distract gorilla trekkers, and they are regularly seen from the campsites and lodges overlooking the forested valley.
5. Entebbe Botanical Gardens, Uganda Perhaps the most accessible site of all, the great blues consort with Ross’s turacos in tall isolated trees on the shores of Lake Victoria.

Conservation status
When not molested, these large turacos can live in small relict forest patches, sometimes in close proximity to people. In West Africa, however, the great blue turaco has long been hunted for food and feathers so its numbers are much depleted from Sierra Leone to Nigeria. In Liberia, the wing and tail feathers of this turaco are used in secret society costumes of the Krahn people. The species was formerly present in Senegal but there have been no records there for over 80 years. The large-scale removal of tropical lowland forest remains the greatest threat to this and many other species.