Purple-crested Turaco
Gallirex porphyreolophus
A bulky, iridescent bird clad in deep purple, blue, green, and olive washed with pink. It clambers acrobatically through riverine woodland and savanna thickets. In flight it explodes from the canopy with distinctive deep red panels in the wings. It produces a distinctive croaking “khoh-khoh-khoh-khoh….” that gets progressively louder before suddenly stopping. The similar Ross’s Turaco differs from Purple-crested Turaco by being darker overall and having a red crest and yellow face.
Identification
This bird has a purple coloured crest above a green head, a red ring around their eyes, and a black bill. The neck and chest are green and brown. The rest of the body is purple, with red flight feathers.<p>Purple-crested turacos are considered to be large frugivores that are known to carry cycad seeds from various plant species long distances from feeding to nesting sites. After fruit consumption, they regurgitate the seeds intact where they can germinate nearby. G. porphyreolophus primarily consumes fruits whole like many other large frugivores which are suggested to be necessary for effective ecosystem functioning. Among similar turacos, the purple-crested turaco have faster minimum transit times when consuming smaller seed diets than larger seed diets, and G. porphyreolophus has been shown to have significantly faster pulp (seedless fruit masses) transit time than another closely related Turaco when fed only the pulp of larger-seeding fruits than smaller-seeding fruits.<p>Purple-crested turacos are primarily frugivorous and have been shown to disperse seeds that germinate comparably to that of manually de-pulped seeds. Turacos are important for seed dispersal and germination, but the purple-crested turaco's digestion of invasive plants still allows for high rates of germination and low seed retention. On the other hand, the invasive species Psittacula krameri (rose-ringed parakeet) has been shown to contain longer seed retention and lower rates of alien-plant germination.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Gallirex porphyreolophus
- Authority
- (Vigors, 1831)
- Order
- Musophagiformes
- Family
- Musophagidae
- Genus
- Gallirex
Range and habitat
They live in moist woodland and evergreen forests. They eat mainly fruit. It is found in Burundi, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Africa, Eswatini, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Their southernmost occurrence is at the Mtamvuna River on the KwaZulu-Natal-Eastern Cape border.
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
American Robin
Turdus migratorius
Fairly large songbird with round body, long legs, and longish tail. Gray above with warm orange underparts and blackish head. Hops across lawns and stands erect with its bill often tilted upward. In fall and winter, forms large flocks and gathers in trees to roost or eat berries. Common across North America in gardens, parks, yards, golf courses, fields, pastures, and many other wooded habitats.
Crested Drongo
Dicrurus forficatus
Bold black fork-tailed bird with a towering crest. Juveniles have some pale fringes and a reduced crest, but still show the forked tail. Found in all types of forest at low and middle elevations, and less commonly in scrub, in villages, in plantations, and at high elevation. Perches prominently in the open, swooping out to catch insects on the wing. Often joins mixed feeding flocks with other birds. Fearless bird that doesn’t hesitate to mob mammalian predators or raptors. Song is a repeated sequence of whistles, creaks, and rasps. Forked tail and crest make it unmistakable within its range.
Crimson Finch
Neochmia phaeton
Elegant, long-tailed finch, adult male brown above, intense crimson below, with a cherry-red face and small pale spots on the side of the chest. Birds in New Guinea and Cape York with white belly, those elsewhere in Australia with black. Female duller, with only red face. Juvenile mostly brownish with dark bill but note long tail. Star Finch has shorter tail, greener plumage. Inhabits tall grass areas, especially with Pandanus (palm-like tree with leaves attached in a corkscrew pattern).
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