Great Blue Turaco

Corythaeola cristata

Largest turaco, up to 76 cm. Locals hunt it for feathers. Eats mostly fruit and leaves. Still common in Congo Basin forests.

Habitat: Canopy of lowland and montane rainforest and gallery forest, plus tall trees in secondary growth near cleared/human-modified areas; from sea level up to about 2,700 m elevation
Fun fact: The Great Blue Turaco is the largest species of turaco, and unusually for a bird its size, leaves make up a substantial share of its diet — around a quarter in some field studies — with chicks fed pre-digested, regurgitated leaf matter by their parents.
Range: Equatorial sub-Saharan Africa, from Guinea and other West African nations east across the Congo Basin to Uganda, Rwanda, western Kenya, Tanzania, the Imatong Mountains of South Sudan, and south to Angola
Diet: Omnivorous; predominantly fruit (figs, palms, and other tropical fruits) supplemented with leaves, buds, shoots, flowers, and occasional insects — leaves can make up roughly a quarter of the diet, and chicks are fed regurgitated leaf matter
Size: 0.73 m
Lifespan: 20 years

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