Crinifer piscator
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 >90%
The western plantain-eater (Crinifer piscator), also known as the grey plantain-eater or western grey plantain-eater, is a large member of the turaco family, a group of large arboreal passerine-like birds restricted to Africa.
This species is a resident breeder in open woodland habitats in tropical west 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. They are 50 cm long, including a long tail. 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 western plantain-eater has a thick bright yellow bill and shows a white wing bar in flight. The sexes are identical, but juveniles have a black woolly head without silver streaking. This bird is similar to the closely related eastern plantain-eater. The latter species has white tail bars, and lacks the chest bars and dark wing feather shafts of its western relative.
This species feeds on fruit, especially figs, seeds and other vegetable matter. The Western plantain-eater has a loud cow-cow-cow call, which is very familiar in west Africa. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Niokolo-Koba National Park | 🇸🇳 Senegal |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ouagadougou | 🇧🇫 Burkina Faso | |
| 2 | Abuja | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | |
| 3 | Serrekunda | 🇬🇲 Gambia | |
| 4 | Accra | 🇬🇭 Ghana | |
| 5 | Abidjan | 🇨🇮 Côte d'Ivoire | |
| 6 | Maiduguri | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | |
| 7 | Monrovia | 🇱🇷 Liberia | |
| 8 | Lagos | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | |
| 9 | Kumasi | 🇬🇭 Ghana | |
| 10 | Lomé | 🇹🇬 Togo |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leipzig Zoological Garden | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 2 | Barcelona Zoo | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 3 | Le Pal | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 4 | Wildlife World Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Moody Gardens | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Zoologischer Garten Leipzig | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 7 | Zoo Atlanta | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Bird Paradise | 🇸🇬 Singapore | |
| 9 | Aquarama Barcelona | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 10 | Rainforest Wild Asia | 🇸🇬 Singapore | |
| 11 | Monkeyland | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 12 | Elephant Sanctuary, The Crags, Plettenberg Bay | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 13 | World of Birds Wildlife Sanctuary and Monkey Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 14 | Birds of Eden | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 15 | Wolfgang-Köhler-Primaten-Forschungszentrum | 🇩🇪 Germany |
Very likely
About 70% of wildlife watchers report a Western Grey Plantain-eater sighting in Niokolo-Koba National Park on a given day, based on 411 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 6th most-seen of the 215 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January–February and April
In those months about 80% of wildlife watchers report a Western Grey Plantain-eater in Niokolo-Koba National Park on a given day, against about 50% in November, the lowest month. Those are among Niokolo-Koba National Park's driest months, with almost no rain against 300 mm in August. May–July and October have too few records to rate.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Western Grey Plantain-eater sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Niokolo-Koba National Park, in our data
Niokolo-Koba National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Western Grey Plantain-eater sightings: about 70% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Western Grey Plantain-eater is recorded against all the birds logged in Niokolo-Koba National Park (411 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.
