Range Description

Tauraco fischeri inhabits coastal and riverine forest and woodland in Kenya, north-eastern Tanzania and southern Somalia. In Kenya and Tanzania, it is frequent to common^5,7 in coastal forests from Boni south to Tanga, inland along the Tana River, and up to 1,500 m in the Usambara Mountains⁵ where a population of over 1,000 individuals is thought to reside¹¹. The subspecies T. f. zanzibaricus, endemic to Zanzibar², was thought to number only 25-50 birds⁸, but following surveys in June-July 2001 the population has been estimated at c.1,400 individuals⁹. In Somalia, there are now probably fewer than 50 individuals left⁸, all in the lower Jubba valley, where up to 80% of the riverine forest has been cleared in less than 30 years^1,6; there is thus little hope that the species will persist there. The total population is unknown but assumed to be 2,500-9,999 individuals. Although a limited time series of data suggests the population is Eastern Usambara is stable¹¹, the population as a whole is probably declining due to trapping and the clearance of coastal forests¹⁰.