Tauraco schalowi
Silhouette: Lisa M. "Pixxl" (photo), John E. McCormack, Michael G. Harvey, Brant C. Faircloth, Nicholas G. Crawford, Travis C. Glenn, Robb T. Brumfield & T. Michael Keesey · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
Schalow's turaco (Tauraco schalowi) is a frugivorous bird in the family Musophagidae. This bird's common name and Latin binomial commemorate the German banker and amateur ornithologist Herman Schalow. These birds are light for a turaco species; weighing just over half a pound (270g), with a length of 15 to 17 inches. Their colour is a coppery-jade green that fades to a dark iridescent blue the closer you get towards the tail. They have long white tripped crests with small red beaks and red skin around their dark eyes lined with white feathers. Mature birds have, on average, the longest crests of any turaco species. Their wings are short and round with red flight feathers meant for short flights.
It is distributed mainly in Zambia, central Angola, the southern DRC, and the uplands of southern Kenya, northern and western Tanzania and western Malawi. It occurs very locally in Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe, where it frequents riparian habitats of the Zambezi and Cuando Rivers. It occurs in the forested uplands and wooded inland plateaus of south central Africa. It is replaced in the eastern lowlands by Livingstone's turaco, which is comparable in appearance... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kafue National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 2 | Ngorongoro Conservation Area | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 3 | Masai Mara National Reserve | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 4 | Chobe National Park | 🇧🇼 Botswana | |
| 5 | Serengeti National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 6 | South Luangwa National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paphos Zoo | 🇨🇾 Cyprus | |
| 2 | Nifrel | 🇯🇵 Japan | |
| 3 | La Aurora Zoo | 🇬🇹 Guatemala | |
| 4 | The Little Zoo | 🇳🇴 Norway |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Schalow's Turaco sighting in Chobe National Park on a given day, based on 50 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 208th most-seen of the 373 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
December
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Schalow's Turaco in Chobe National Park on a given day, against under 5% in January to November, the lowest months. That is one of Chobe National Park's wettest months, with about 95 mm of rain against almost none in May.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Schalow's Turaco sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
4th of 6
Of the 6 parks where we can rate Schalow's Turaco sightings, Chobe National Park ranks 4th at under 5%. The best odds are in Kafue National Park (Zambia, about 50%), Ngorongoro Conservation Area (Tanzania, about 10%) and Masai Mara National Reserve (Kenya, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Schalow's Turaco is recorded against all the birds logged in Chobe National Park (50 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
