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Musophaga rossae (Ross's turaco, Ross's lourie) 

Rooikuifloerie [Afrikaans]; Lady Ross-toerako [Dutch]; Touraco de Lady Ross [French]; Rossturako [German]; Turaco de Ross [Portuguese]

Life > Eukaryotes > Opisthokonta > Metazoa (animals) > Bilateria > Deuterostomia > Chordata > Craniata > Vertebrata (vertebrates)  > Gnathostomata (jawed vertebrates) > Teleostomi (teleost fish) > Osteichthyes (bony fish) > Class: Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned fish) > Stegocephalia (terrestrial vertebrates) > Tetrapoda (four-legged vertebrates) > Reptiliomorpha > Amniota > Reptilia (reptiles) > Romeriida > Diapsida > Archosauromorpha > Archosauria > Dinosauria (dinosaurs) > Saurischia > Theropoda (bipedal predatory dinosaurs) > Coelurosauria > Maniraptora > Aves (birds) > Musophagiformes > Family: Musophagidae

Musophaga rossae (Ross's turaco, Ross's lourie)   

Ross's turaco, Uganda. [photo Jeff Higgott / sequella.co.uk ©]

 

Distribution and habitat

Occurs from Cameroon to Uganda south through the DRC to Zambia and Angola. It is a rare vagrant to southern Africa, recorded twice in northern Botswana and once in northern Namibia (near the Caprivi Strip). It generally prefers evergreen and riverine forest, deciduous thickets with termite mounds and dense miombo (Brachystegia), mavunda (Cryptosepalum) and marquesia (Marquesia) forests.

Food 

Mainly eats fruit, doing most of its foraging in groups in the forest canopy. The following food items have been recorded in its diet in central Africa:

  • Plants
    • fruit
      • Rhoicissus (wild grapes)
      • Bridelia (sweetberry)
      • Musanga (stinging nettle)
      • Dahlgrenodendron (wild laurels)
      • Psidium guajava (cultivated guavas)
    • flowers of Grevillea (alien silky oak)
  • Invertebrates

References

  • Hockey PAR, Dean WRJ and Ryan PG 2005. Roberts - Birds of southern Africa, VIIth ed. The Trustees of the John Voelcker Bird Book Fund, Cape Town.