The eastern plantain-eater (''Crinifer zonurus'') also known as the eastern grey plantain-eater, is a large member of the turaco family, a group of large arboreal

near-passerine Near passerines and higher land-bird assemblage are terms of traditional, pre-cladistic taxonomy that have often been given to tree-dwelling birds or those most often believed to be related to the true passerines (order Passeriformes) owing to mor ...

birds restricted to Africa. This species is a resident breeder in open woodland habitats in tropical east Africa. It lays two or three eggs in a tree platform nest. These are common, noisy and conspicuous birds, despite lacking the brilliant colours of relatives such as the

violet turaco The violet turaco, also known as the violaceous plantain eater (''Musophaga violacea''), is a large turaco, a group of African otidimorphae. Characteristics These are unmistakable birds, but shy and often inconspicuous in the treetops. They are ...

. They are long, including a long tail, and weigh .''CRC Handbook of Avian Body Masses'' by John B. Dunning Jr. (Editor). CRC Press (1992), . Their plumage is mainly grey above spotted with brown. The head, erectile crest, neck and breast are brown streaked with silver. The underparts are whitish, heavily streaked with brown. The eastern plantain-eater has a thick bright yellow bill, and shows a white wing bar in flight. The sexes are identical, but immature individuals have a black woolly head without silver streaking. This bird is similar to the closely related western plantain-eater. However, eastern plantain-eater has white tail bars, and lacks the chest bars and dark wing feather shafts of its western relative. This species feeds on fruit, especially

fig The fig is the edible fruit of ''Ficus carica'', a species of small tree in the flowering plant family Moraceae. Native to the Mediterranean and western Asia, it has been cultivated since ancient times and is now widely grown throughout the world ...

s, and other vegetable matter. Eastgreyplaintaineater

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1061037 eastern plantain-eater Birds of East Africa Birds of Sub-Saharan Africa eastern plantain-eater Taxa named by Eduard Rüppell