Bare-faced Go-away-bird

Corythaixoides personatus

Other Names

  Black-faced Lourie   Touraco masqué, Touraco à gorge nue   Nacktehl-Lärmvogel   Turaco Enmascarado     Maskertoerako   Turaco faccianuda

World: Africa: occurs in 2 distinct areas. In Ethiopia from the southern border N through the Ethiopian rift valley highlands. The second population occurs from Malawi, N Zambia, SE Zaire and then N through eastern Zaire, western and central Tanzania , SW Uganda and W Kenya.

Kenya: Scarce and local limited to the far West between 2°N and 2°S.

Easily distinguished from the only other Kenyan Go-away-bird (the White-bellied) by its bare black face. This is a relatively uncommon bird which is, fortunately, easy to spot where it does occur, being large, restless and noisy! It inhabits fairly open country, frequenting trees along river courses. It is always worth stopping close to tree-lined stream edges and river banks in the Mara and checking for this bird. The picture above was taken in the Mara in January 2001.