Turaco Livingston. Long-crested turaco, or Livingston's bananaeater

Turaco are birds with a long tail that belong to the family of banana-eaters. Their average size is 40-70 cm. They have a feathery crest on their heads. It is like an indicator of mood; it stands on end when the bird is excited. There are 22 species of turaco in nature. Their habitat is the savannah and forests of Africa.

These feathered forest dwellers are characterized by bright purple, blue, green and red plumage. As seen in photo turaco come in a wide variety of colors. Let us introduce you to the different types of turaco. Purple turaco one of large species banana eaters. Its length reaches 0.5 m, and its wings and tail are 22 cm.

The crown of this beautiful bird is decorated with delicate, soft red plumage. Young animals do not have such a crest; it appears only with age. The remaining feathers are dark purple, and the lower part of the body is dark green. The wings are blood red and dark purple at the tip.

In the photo there is a purple turaco bird

There is no feathering around the brown eyes. Legs are black. Habitats purple turaco is part of Lower Guinea and Upper Guinea. Livingston's turaco- a medium-sized bird. The elite of African society decorate their headdresses with feathers of this type of turaco.

Their color is influenced by pigments (turacin and turaverdine). Water upon contact with turacin turns red, and after turaverdine it turns green. This miracle bird looks especially elegant after the rain. At this time it sparkles like emerald. Livingston's turaco is found in Tanzania, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and partly in Mozambique.

Pictured is a Livingston turaco bird

Red-crested turaco like Livingston's turaco, they have red and green plumage. A distinctive feature of this species is its red comb. Its length is 5 cm. The comb stands on end when it experiences feelings of anxiety, danger and excitement. These birds occupy the territory from Angola to the Congo.

Pictured is a red-crested turaco

Representatives Guinean turaco there are different races. Northern races are distinguished by single-colored rounded crests of green color. The rest of the Guinean turacos have a pointed crest of 2 colors.

The upper part of the crest is white or blue, and the lower part is green. These birds have a rare pigment - turaverdine. It contains copper. Therefore, their plumage has a metallic green sheen. The adult size is 42 cm. They live from Senegal to Zaire and Tanzania.

Pictured is a Guinean turaco

Turaco hartlauba or Blue-crested turaco is a medium-sized bird. Body length 40-45 cm, weight 200-300 g. The color contains red and green colors. Red - mainly on the flight feathers. Some pigments that are present in the plumage of blue crests are washed off with water. For their habitat, they choose forested highlands at an altitude of 1500-3200 m, urban gardens of East Africa.

Pictured is a Hartlauba Turaco

Character and lifestyle of the turaco bird

All turaco birds lead a sedentary lifestyle on tall trees. These are quite secretive birds. Flocks consist of 12-15 individuals, but they do not all fly at once, but one after another, like scouts. They carry out their flights from tree to tree in silence. Having discovered a bush with berries, these shy ones do not stay long, but simply visit it often.

Blue-backed turaco They try to return to the big tree as quickly as possible, where they feel safe. It is when they are safe that their cries are heard throughout the area. Having all gathered together, these “wonderful birds” flap their wings and chase each other screaming.

Pictured is a blue-backed turaco

Turaco birds live in a variety of landscapes. Their habitats can equally be mountains, plains, savannas and tropical forests. The area inhabited by turaco families ranges from 4 hectares to 2 km2, it all depends on the size of the birds. Very rarely, these birds descend to the ground, only in case of emergency.

They can only be seen on the ground during dust baths or watering holes. They spend the rest of the time hiding in the branches of trees. These birds fly well and crawl through trees. Turaco, like parrots, easily survive in captivity. They are very unpretentious in food and have a lively disposition.

Turaco food

Turaco belongs to the family of banana-eaters, despite the fact that these birds do not eat bananas. They feed on young shoots and leaves of tropical plants, exotic berries and fruits. Interesting fact that's a few turaco species They eat some poisonous fruits that neither animals nor other birds eat.

They pick berries from trees and bushes, filling their crops to capacity with these delicacies. IN exceptional cases, turacos can feed on insects, seeds and even small reptiles. To feed on large fruits, the bird uses its sharp, jagged beak. It is thanks to its sharp beak that it tears the rafts from the stalks and cuts their shell for further division into small pieces.

Reproduction and lifespan of turaco

The turaco breeding season is from April to July. At this time, they try to break into pairs. The male gives a calling call during the mating season. Turacos nest in pairs, apart from other members of the flock. The nest is built from many twigs and twigs. These shallow structures are located on tree branches. For safety reasons, these birds nest at a height of 1.5 - 5.3 m.

Pictured are turaco chicks

The clutch consists of 2 white eggs. The pair incubates in turn for 21-23 days. The chicks are born naked. After a while, their body becomes covered with fluff. This outfit lasts for 50 days. The process of maturing offspring in turacos takes a lot of time.

And throughout this period, parents feed their chicks. They regurgitate the food they bring directly into the baby's beak. At the age of 6 weeks, the chicks can leave the nest, but they still cannot fly. They climb trees near the nest. A well-developed claw on the second finger of the wing helps them in this.

It will take several more weeks before the chicks learn to fly from branch to branch. But responsible parents still feed their offspring for 9-10 weeks. These, despite the long period of maturation, are considered long-lived. Lifespan of a turaco is 14-15 years old.

Livingston's turaco (lat. Tauraco livingstonii) is an elegant medium-sized bird from the family Musophagidae of the order Musophagiformes. In many African countries, only representatives of high society still have the right to decorate their headdresses with feathers.

The bright colors of the feathers are given by the pigments turacin and turaverdin, which are simultaneously found only in this species. The first pigment is capable of coloring water red, and the second - green color. For this reason, the bird looks especially impressive after rain. When wet, it resembles a huge sparkling emerald.

Distribution and behavior

Livingston's turaco is found in Tanzania, Burundi, Malawi, Zimbabwe, South Africa and eastern Mozambique. At the western limit of their range, the birds coexist with a related species, the long-foreheaded turaco (Tauraco schaowi), which prefers a drier climate.

The natural habitat is dense tropical rainforests located in both lowlands and highlands at altitudes up to 2500 m above sea level.

These birds fly very poorly, so they prefer to move along the treetops in search of food.

Their diet consists almost entirely of various fruits and tropical plants. If they are deficient, they eat flowers, young leaves and blossoming buds.

Turacos live in pairs or small groups. They have a tolerant attitude towards other bird species, but clearly do not like their relatives from neighboring groups. The feathered beauties fiercely defend the borders of their domains from them. In captivity, Livingston's turacos usually have a calm, friendly character and get along well with the rest of the household.

Reproduction

The mating season runs from August to February depending on the habitat. Reproduction of the species in natural conditions has been poorly studied. It is known that the female most often lays 2 eggs, reminiscent of pigeons.

Nests are located high above the ground in tree hollows.

Incubation lasts about 28 days. Both spouses are involved in feeding the chicks. The chicks are blackish in color, which changes to green as they grow older. They become winged at about 1.5 months of age, but continue to be dependent on their parents for another 2-3 months.

Description

The length of the body together with the tail is on average 45 cm. Weight ranges from 260 to 380 g. The plumage is predominantly green in color, in places with a blue tint. The head, neck and chest are light green, less often dark green.

The tail is blue, the wings are bluish-green above and reddish below. The red feathers on the wings are only visible during flight. The head is decorated with a crest of feathers up to 6.5-7.5 cm long. The tips of the feathers on the crest are painted white and resemble pearls.

The eyes are surrounded by bare red skin. The beak is pink-red. Two white lines diverge from it to the eyes. Currently, three subspecies of Livingston's turaco have been identified.

Life expectancy reaches 14-15 years.

Turacos are long-tailed birds, reaching a length of 35 to 45 cm. They have a straight crest of feathers on their heads. The color of the plumage is often metallic green and blue. The male and female within their species have no differences in color and size. Their flight feathers are dark red.

Livingston's turaco lives in tropical Africa, inhabiting rain, mountain and light deciduous forests, palm and acacia savannas. These birds come to the ground only to drink water or take a dust bath. They feed on fruits and berries, and to a lesser extent on leaves, buds, and flowers. Previously, these birds were called banana eaters, but they do not eat bananas. Monogamous. They live in families in permanent territories ranging from 4 hectares for small species up to 2 square meters. km for large ones.

Nests (platforms of thin twigs) are made in trees. During the mating season, birds demonstrate themselves by raising their crest of feathers and spreading their flight feathers widely. Both parent birds incubate the clutch for up to 3 weeks and then take part in feeding the brood. Turaco feathers are valued as an element of festive and ritual clothing among the nobility and warriors of many African tribes.

The closest relatives of cuckoos - banana-eaters - form a whole family, in which there are quite large specimens with a body length of 70 centimeters, and there are smaller individuals.

In Africa, south of the Sahara, there are more than 20 species of turaco, comprising 8 orders. Turaco is the second name for banana eaters.

All of them, despite the prosaic name, have a bright exotic feather outfit, which has long attracted the attention of people.

Inconceivable colors are present in the color of the bird: brilliant green, violet, blue, purple, red. Feathers of rainbow colors make the appearance of banana eaters fabulous, especially when the birds are well lit by sunlight, and hang on trees, shimmering like precious stones.

In addition to all this splendor, the turaco has an amazing tail, which, when spread, can easily compete with a peacock’s. Not a tail, but a lush fan of an oriental beauty, brightly colored, large and heavy. A curved crest puffs up on the head. The birds' wings are slightly short, with rounded tips.

Male and female external signs differ little from each other. Short beak with jagged edges yellow color has a convex beak. These birds live in steppes, savannas, and forests, but in any case they prefer trees. The nest resembles a bunch of randomly thrown branches and looks careless. But with such a magnificent outfit of feathers, the turaco can be forgiven for its lack of nest-building abilities. The structure is reminiscent of pigeon nests; they are just as flat and unkempt.

The female lays a pair of eggs white. The chicks appear nesting type, naked and gradually covered with down. This cover remains on the chicks for more than 50 days. All development proceeds slowly: incubation lasts more than three weeks, six weeks pass after the chicks hatch, when they leave the nest, and besides, the chicks cannot fly. This is where the second claw on the wing comes to the rescue, which is well developed and with its help the chicks climb trees excellently. And only a week after leaving the nest, they timidly flutter from branch to branch of nearby trees.

Grown-up banana eaters jump like squirrels, easily, quickly and deftly. Birds are very active and energetic in their natural habitat. They stop only while feeding, and even then not for long. Having intercepted one other fruit from the tree, the turacos again jump to another tree, so that you cannot follow their movement. And only loud cries: “Carr-o-oo, carr-o-oo,” reveal the presence of birds in the tropical forest. The voice sounds shrill and harsh, not at all musical. Banana eaters cannot boast of vocal abilities.

Turacos are herbivorous birds; the exotic bird's diet consists of berries, fruits, young buds and shoots of various shrubs and trees. It is not known who named the birds banana-eaters, but this nickname does not correspond to the true facts about the eating habits of turacos. Birds practically do not eat bananas.

A real beauty among the representatives of the family is the white-cheeked banana-eater (Tauraco leucotis), a bird of small size but remarkable coloring. This species of turaco got its name from the white feathers surrounding the eyes and covering the cheeks. All the rest of the plumage is multi-colored, like a parrot. The bright green neck, head and chest look defiant against the background of the gray belly. The long tail is decorated with white feathers, the rump is gray-blue. The flight feathers on the wings have a dark red tint, while the coverts are a more modest color - blue-gray. The head is decorated with a scallop, comparable in color to the sea wave, which is why this species is called the crested bananaeater. In terms of external characteristics, the female and the male practically do not differ from each other.

The white-cheeked bananaeater leads a sedentary lifestyle in East Africa.

Listen to the voice of turaco

Birds nest in different terms in various habitats from April to July. The male attracts the female with a kind of calling cry - “hyu-hyu-hyu...”, which resounds loudly through the forest.

A loose nest is formed big amount dry branches and is located on the tree. By appearance resembles a platform with a small tray in which the female lays two white eggs. Naked chicks slowly become covered with down and leave their nest late. Birds practically never leave the trees of the tropical forest. They choose to live in dense thickets along damp areas or located along the river. White-cheeked banana-eaters can be found in lowland and mountain forests.

During the mating season, birds form pairs, then stay in family groups. Sometimes banana eaters form quite large flocks. Bright birds They constantly move, stopping only on large trees, where the whole flock rests. Birds lead a secretive lifestyle, picking berries from low-growing bushes; banana eaters immediately hide on the safe top of a large tree, without giving any sound signals at all. In a flock, birds can start unique games, chasing each other and loudly flapping their wings. During the flight, the white-cheeked banana-eater makes several quick wing flaps, then spreads its wings and tail and quickly falls down, and the whole process is repeated again. Having found a bush sprinkled with berries, banana eaters stuff their crops to capacity and then rest in the treetops. Birds may eat insects, rarely seeds and small lizards.

This rich world can surprise you with many colors and different surprises.

Here are just a few rare birds that boast unusual abilities or coloring.

Beautiful birds of the Earth

Long-tailed velvet weaver

These South African birds are so named due to their incredibly long tail, which can be almost 2 times the body length, reaching 60 cm (such long tails are characteristic of males).

Brilliant painted painter

In his breeding plumage, the male, as a rule, has a bright blue color (sometimes black). Outside the breeding season, the color of males does not differ from the color of females, being gray-brown. It is worth noting that these birds are polygamous and, moreover, different partners will help the female in raising the chicks.

Crowned flyeater

There are 4 species of crowned flyeaters. At first glance, the bird is ordinary, but if you tease it, you will notice how it unfurls its gorgeous crest. Males have fiery red crest feathers with blue tips, while females have orange or yellow feathers.

Scaly bird of paradise

This bird lives in humid forests in New Guinea. It is distinguished by unusual long feathers extending from its head. When it was first brought to Europe, people thought the feathers were fake.

Quezal

Many consider this bird the most beautiful in the world. This is the national bird of Guatemala, the currency of this country is named after it, and the image of this bird can be seen on the coat of arms of Guatemala. Quezal is not able to live in captivity. Some believe that the bird can die from a broken heart. Being freedom-loving, it was not for nothing that the quezal was chosen as a symbol of the struggle for independence.

Lilac-breasted Roller

First of all, this bird is distinguished by its bright color: the chest is purple, the belly is blue, the head and back of the head are green, and near its eyes you can find white stripe. In addition, the bird's face is reddish in color, and its wings have a brown tint with a bright blue color at the bottom.

It is also worth noting that during the mating season, you can see how males perform incredible acrobatic tricks in the air so that the female notices them.

Inca tern

This bird loves the Pacific coast of South America (Peru, Chile). It is distinguished primarily by its "whiskers", which are actually white curled tufts of feathers, each of which can reach a length of 5 cm. In addition, the bird stands out from the rest with its bright red beak and red legs.

Curly arasari

This species got its name because of the unusual shape of the head feathers - they are curled, like ribbons on gift wrapping. The name "arasari" is translated from Latin as "feather-tongue" - this indicates the distinctive features of the structure of the tongue of these particular toucans.

The curly-haired aracari lives in Brazil, Guiana, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador.

Blue-capped Tanager

This bird lives in damp mountain forests, as well as in forest edges. Her home can be located at an altitude of up to 1,000 meters above sea level. The blue-capped tanager can be found in eastern South America.

Blue-headed magnificent bird of paradise

The habitat of this bird is Indonesia, and more specifically, the islands of Waigeo and Batanta, located northwest of the island of New Guinea.

This bird of paradise can be distinguished by their curly tail feathers and unique coloring. The crown on the male's head is actually a piece of skin, not feathers.

Guiana cock of the rock

The almost perfect semicircular light orange comb of the males of this species is actually a formation of two rows of feathers. It stretches across the bird's entire head and even partially covers its beak.

This bird lives in tropical and subtropical forests of Guyana and southern Venezuela. Guianan cock of the rock loves areas rich in bodies of water - it can be found near the Rio Negro River basin.

Lilac-capped painted painter

This bird stands out not only for the lilac color of the crown of its head, but also for its song. The fact is that, unlike other fairies, this one usually sings in a duet, quite loudly, using low purity.

Livingston's turaco

This bird can be found in tropical Africa. She lives in rain, mountain, and light forests. Turaco rarely comes down to the ground, and only to drink water and take a dust bath. It is worth noting that these birds were previously called banana-eaters, which is quite strange, because... They don't eat bananas.

Shiny real cotinga

This bird lives in the upper part of the tropical rainforests of Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia and Bolivia. Her home is usually located at an altitude of up to 600 m above sea level.

Males have beautiful colors. It is worth noting that the dark purple feathers that adorn the neck of the brilliant coting sparkle beautifully in the sun

Bare-throated bell-ringer

It is immediately worth noting that the metallic ringing voice of this bird can be compared to a bell, and this sound is the loudest in the world of birds. The bird can be found in the mountain rainforests of Brazil, as well as in Paraguay and northern Argentina.

Indian Hornbill

This bird stands out for its yellow beak with a large helmet. The hornbill can be found in the tropical forests of southern Asia. She is an omnivore, loving fruits, fish and small mammals.

Indian tribesmen believe that hanging a hornbill skull will help them gain wealth.

Bluebrow Momot

This bird lives in Central America. Her distinctive feature- This a long tail. At the end of the tail, two even longer tail feathers can also be seen. These feathers fall off over time due to frequent cleaning of the feathers with the beak.

Red-billed Alcyone

To make a nest, this bird digs holes, the length of which can reach 50 cm. It is worth noting that the red-billed alcyone feeds on large insects, rodents, snails, fish, frogs, and also likes to hunt songbirds.

Little Sultana

Habitat - southeastern USA, central and northern parts of South America, sometimes flies to western and southern Europe.

This bird deftly climbs the stems of tall plants. She can easily swim in water like a duck and walk on floating plants like a chicken thanks to her long fingers.

Kea

This bird is from the parrot family. She lives in New Zealand, and can be found in human habitats - near ski lodges, tourist hotels and campsites. It is worth noting that this is the only parrot in the world that lives and breeds at an altitude above 1,500 meters above sea level.