Fischer's Turaco is a species of bird in the Musophagidae family. It is found in Kenya, Somalia, and Tanzania. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical moist montane forests, and arable land. It is threatened by habitat loss.
Similar species: Turacos
By Thibaud Aronson
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Uploaded Apr 25, 2023. Captured Mar 6, 2023 10:40 in JG4W+JR Diani Beach, Kenya.
comments (9)
As an added bonus, Fischer is my mother's family name, so before the trip I showed her a photo, along with a couple other species that bear that same epithet (all named after the 19th century German explorer Gustav Fischer) and promised her I'd make a special effort to look for it.
As an added, added bonus, this is highly range-restricted species, being only found in the remnant fragments of coastal forest in Kenya, northeastern Tanzania and Zanzibar.
The place we saw it, Kaya Kinondo is a sacred forest to the Mijikenda people, who have lived in and around it for about 600 years, though in recent times fundamentalist strains of both Christianity and Islam have done their best to get people to abandon their traditional beliefs, such as hugging trees in order to relieve themselves from their burdens. We were lucky to visit it with a local guide who is deeply passionate about the place, and was able to show us several of the remarkable creatures that inhabit the forest (see the upcoming series of photos).
The East African coastal forests have been absolutely trashed, but several kayas such as this one are now protected as UNESCO World Heritage sites, offering some hope that these ancient forests, their Mijikenda guardians and their wild denizens, will continue to prosper for years to come. Posted 2 years ago
So, are you telling us that you're part German? Posted 2 years ago
As for me, kind of, in that my grandfather was from the Lorraine region, which at times has belonged to Germany :) Posted 2 years ago