Knysna Turaco

The Knysna Turaco is a striking, secretive fruit-eater of South Africa's indigenous forests, named for the Knysna forest region along the southern Cape coast. Its plumage is a deep, glossy green over the head, neck, and back, with a green crest edged in white and a conspicuous white line beneath a bare red eye-ring.

Like other turacos, it carries crimson-red primary flight feathers that are normally hidden but flash vividly open when the bird flies. The underparts and undertail are duller grey-green.

Quick facts

• Glossy green plumage with a white-tipped green crest
• White facial markings around a red eye-ring
• Crimson flight feathers revealed only in flight

Key field marks

• Green crest with a white tip, distinguishing it from the all-purple crest of the Purple-crested Turaco
• White stripe below the red eye-ring
• Crimson primaries flashing open in flight, shared by most turacos

Similar species

• Purple-crested Turaco shows a solid purple-glossed crest and lacks the white crest tip and eye stripe; ranges overlap only marginally.
• Livingstone's Turaco has a taller, more forward-curving crest and occurs in different, more northerly and easterly forest habitats.
• Schalow's Turaco, sometimes treated as a subspecies of Knysna Turaco, occurs further north and inland with subtly different head markings.

Range

Endemic to South Africa's forest belt, from the Western Cape (including the Knysna forest) through the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, with related populations extending into eastern Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

Habitat

Restricted to indigenous evergreen forest, forested kloofs (ravines), and dense coastal bush with a closed canopy and abundant fruiting trees.

Movement

Sedentary and strongly tied to forest patches; rarely seen away from cover.

Behavior

Moves through the canopy mostly by running and hopping along branches, using flight sparingly for short, labored glides between trees, during which the crimson wing patches are briefly exposed.

Voice

Gives a loud, guttural chorus of "kok-kok-kok-kokokoh" calls, often answered by neighboring birds, carrying well through dense forest.

Feeding

Feeds mainly on fruit, with wild figs a particular favorite, and also takes flowers and buds; an important seed disperser for forest trees.

Nesting

Builds a loose, shallow twig platform nest in a tree; typically lays 2 eggs, incubated and tended by both parents.