Guinea Turaco

Tauraco persa

West Africa's classic forest turaco. Moves through canopy in small groups, bounding branch to branch, rarely flying far.

Population: Number of mature individuals not quantified; BirdLife/IUCN (2024 assessment) list the population trend as DECREASING (suspected), estimating tree-cover loss of ~12.8% across its mapped range over three generations may have driven a 1-19% population decline over the same period — species remains LC due to its extremely large range, not because the population is stable
Habitat: Subtropical/tropical moist lowland forest, gallery forest, and forest edges near cultivation, from sea level to about 1,100 m elevation
Fun fact: The Guinea (Green) Turaco has crimson flight feathers that are normally hidden but flash into view when the bird takes off, colored by turacin, a rare copper-based porphyrin pigment unique to turacos (unlike the carotenoid-based red seen in most other birds); captive turacos of this genus can live to around 30 years, though wild longevity is poorly documented.
Range: West and Central Africa; BirdLife lists it as resident across 19 countries/territories from Senegal/Guinea east to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and south to Angola, with an extent of occurrence of roughly 5.35 million km2 (other sources round up to ~22-23 countries depending on how the range edge is counted)
Diet: Wild and cultivated tropical fruits (e.g. Musanga, Macaranga, Rauvolfia, Cissus, Ficus) plus blossoms
Size: 0.415 m
Lifespan: 15 years

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