TURACO

The red colour in the wings of white-crested turacos (Tauraco leucolophus) is caused by (family Musophagidae), also spelled touraco, also called lourie or plantain-eater any of about 18 species of African birds that are classified with the cuckoos (order Cuculiformes) or separated as a distinct order, Musophagiformes. Certain of the grayish species are called go-away birds, in imitation of their calls. Turacos are remarkable for their coloration. Some are predominantly gray, brown, and white, but the 10 species of the genus Tauraco and the 2 of Musophaga possess a unique and beautiful red pigment, turacin, and a green pigment, turacoverdin. The former occurs in the wing feathers of all 12 species and in the crests of a few; turacoverdin is found in the body plumage of these species and some of Corythaixoides. Musophagids vary in size from approximately 35 cm (14 inches) in the predominantly green and blue species of Tauraco to about 70 cm (28 inches) in the great blue turaco (Corythaeola cristata). Long-tailed and short-winged, they spend their time entirely in trees in search of fruit, taking a few invertebrates; despite their alternative name, the birds do not eat plantains (bananas). They are social, moving in small, noisy flocks, but they nest solitarily. The nest consists of a flat platform of twigs. Two or three white eggs are laid, producing young with thick down that are able to clamber about at an early age aided by well-developed claws on their wings.