Shield turacos
| Shield turacos | ||||||||
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Shield turaco ( Musophaga violacea ) |
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| Musophaga | ||||||||
| Isert , 1788 | ||||||||
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The shield turacos ( Musophaga ), also called pisang-eaters , are a genus in the family of the turacos (Musophagidae). From the genus that used to consist of four species, only two species are assigned to this genus, whereby the Ross turaco ( Mu. Rossae ) was previously seen as a subspecies of the shield turaco ( Mu. Violacea ).
features
Like most members of the Turakos family, both species stand out due to their colorful plumage. The shield turaco has a metallic blue shiny and purple shimmering plumage; in the Ross turaco the purple shimmer is more pronounced. In both species, the wings of the hand with blue edges and tips shine carmine red. The responsible red, copper-containing pigment , turacin , which is unique in the bird world and only occurs within the turaco family, is washed out in small quantities in rainy weather or when bathing in slightly alkaline water. So that the red pigment is not lost over time, new feathers are created during moulting, which absorb turacin through the body . Fully developed feathers cannot remove dye from the body.
The forehead and crown of both species are crimson. The white stripe above the lower eyelid in the shield turaco is not present in the horse turaco. At the base of the beak, the beak is relatively bulky, strongly rounded towards the tip of the beak and merges into a shield-like round plate on the forehead. The nostrils not covered by feathers are elongated horizontally in the middle of the beak towards the tip of the beak. Extending hair-like feathers form a hood on the crown of the Ross turaco, which also earned it the name hooded shield turaco.
Occurrence
Shield turacos inhabit the forest areas in West Africa. The species Schildturako prefers to inhabit rainforests and occurs there from Gambia to Nigeria and to the east to North Cameroon. Ross turakos inhabit gallery forests and the forest strips along rivers in steppe areas, including in the southeast of Cameroon via northern Congo, Uganda and in the north of Zambia.
swell
literature
- Publisher: Forshaw, Joseph: Encyclopedia of Birds , 1999 - ISBN 3828915574
- Hans von Boetticher: Lärmvögel, Turakos und Pisangfresser , (2nd unchanged edition from 1955), 2004 - ISBN 3894326077
