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The Livingstone's Turaco (Tauraco livingstonii) is found in the evergreen forested areas of the eastern-most parts on Southern Africa, generally north of Durban. The most obvious difference with the Knysna Turaco is the way that its crest is held in the erect position… showing a sharp point with a white edge as can be seen in these pictures.


Large view


Large view

Turacos are beautifully coloured and the flashes of bright red one sees when they are in flight are stunning. Unlike most other birds where bright colours are due to refraction of light, turacos show true colours from the unique pigmentation of their feathers. Another interesting physical attribute is the capability to change back and forth the fourth (outer) toe so that the foot sometimes has three toes pointing forward and sometimes two. This allows the bird to acrobatically climb through trees.

They feed mostly on fruit and to a lesser extent on leaves, buds and flowers, occasionally taking small insects, snails and slugs.

They are noisy, gregarious birds that do not migrate. They build large stick nests in trees and lay 2 or 3 eggs. Both parents contribute equally to the task of brooding, feeding the chicks pre-digested fruit. Their great climbing ability is evident in the fledglings leaving the nest long before they can fly!

Have just returned from a long weekend spent in Eshowe, Richards Bay and surrounds. VERY excited to have added this stunning bird as a lifer!

And to make it even better we saw three of them.

Moegaai, did it look like this one?

Nice Sighting!

I felt really fortunate to see this bird sitting nice and open in the sun, AND showing its red feathers!! In my opinion, one of the most beautiful birds in our country!


Livingstone's Turaco , on Flickr

Bosnimf, long time, no see.

What a beautiful picture. Where exactly did you see it?

In St. Lucia near the igwalagwala trail. It rained the night before, so he was just sitting in the sun drying out

Stunning, stunning, stunning

thank you.

wow... what a beauty
nice sighting, superb picture

Fantastic sighting and well captured Bosnimf -

Thanks for sharing this amazing photo with us.