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

turaco The turacos make up the bird family Musophagidae ( "banana-eaters"), which includes plantain-eaters and go-away-birds. In southern Africa both turacos and go-away-birds are commonly known as loeries. They are semi-zygodactylous: the fourth ( ...

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 ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

s restricted to

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. This species is a resident breeder in open woodland habitats in tropical east

. 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. 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 The western plantain-eater (''Crinifer piscator''), also known as the gray plantain-eater or western gray plantain-eater, is a large member of the turaco family, a group of large arboreal near-passerine birds restricted to Africa. This species i ...

. 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 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 birds restricted to Africa. This species is a resident breeder in ...

Birds of East Africa Birds of Sub-Saharan Africa

Taxa named by Eduard Rüppell