Purple-crested Turaco

The Purple-crested Turaco is a large, arboreal fruit-eating bird of southeastern Africa's forests. Its body plumage is a rich, iridescent green washed with bronze and blue tones, set off by a rounded crest glossed deep violet-purple. In flight it reveals crimson primary flight feathers, a hallmark shared by most turacos and produced by a unique copper-based pigment called turacin found in no other bird group.

The face shows a bare red eye-ring, and the underparts fade to a soft grey-brown. It is the national bird of Eswatini, where its crest feathers historically held ceremonial significance.

Quick facts

• Iridescent green body with a violet-purple rounded crest
• Crimson primaries flash open in flight
• Bare red skin around the eye

Key field marks

• Rounded crest glossed purple, not green
• Crimson-red flight feathers visible as a flash when the bird flies or opens its wings
• Bare red eye-ring and grey-brown belly contrasting with the green chest and back

Similar species

• Knysna Turaco has a green crest tipped white rather than purple, and occurs further south and west along the coast.
• Livingstone's Turaco has a longer, more pointed crest with a white-tipped forecrest and a different range further north.
• Schalow's Turaco (an inland relative) shows a white line below the eye and a less rounded crest.

Because turacos are quiet, leaf-hopping birds rather than strong fliers, the crimson wing flash seen briefly as one crosses a gap in the canopy is often the best clue to species when the crest color is hard to judge in shade.

Range

Found in southeastern Africa, including eastern South Africa (KwaZulu-Natal), Eswatini, Mozambique, eastern Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia, and parts of Tanzania.

Habitat

Inhabits evergreen coastal and riverine forest, forest edge, and dense woodland with fruiting trees, favoring closed canopy where it can move between branches largely unseen.

Movement

Non-migratory and strongly sedentary, remaining in territorial forest patches year-round.

Behavior

A poor flier, the Purple-crested Turaco moves mainly by running and bounding along branches with great agility, using flight only for short glides between trees. Pairs and family groups forage together, often joining mixed fruiting-tree gatherings with other frugivores.

Voice

Gives a loud, far-carrying series of guttural "kok-kok-kok-kok" notes, often in a rolling chorus between neighboring birds, used to advertise territory.

Feeding

Primarily frugivorous, favoring wild figs and other forest fruits; it plays an important role dispersing seeds through the forest.

Nesting

Builds a flimsy, shallow platform of twigs in a tree fork, in which it lays 2 eggs; both parents help incubate and feed the semi-precocial chicks, which can clamber out of the nest before they can fly.