Rare violet turaco native to Africa wows photographers at Seletar

Photographers recently scrambled to catch a rare beauty that abruptly turned up at Seletar Aerospace Drive.

The appearance of a violet turaco, which is one splendidly colourful bird, had wildlife photographer Gordon Koh rushing down to catch a glimpse of it.

Koh told Mothership he first heard about the turaco from a WhatsApp group on Dec. 27, 2024.

At the time, Koh was still in Taiwan, and felt he had missed out on "a great chance" to capture shots of this rare bird.

When he returned to Singapore, he immediately headed down in search of the turaco.

Braved the rain

At Seletar on New Year's Eve, he joined a group of around 15 photographers braving the rain to shoot the magical-looking bird.

Most photographers dispersed after a bout of heavy rain, but Koh and a few other persisted.

And Koh was well rewarded for the 4.5 hours he spent there, with clear shots of the bird's violet plumage and crimson flight feathers:

"I was totally thrilled when I had the first glimpse of this bird. It was such a beautiful bird," Koh exclaimed.

Another photographer, Shahrul Kamal, was able to photograph the turaco as well.

"My personal observation is that it loves to perch high on dense trees. [It is] often not visible but we could hear its loud call, some sort of 'barking', a bird call that is unusual to locals," Kamal observed.

Meanwhile, Koh opined that the barking call sounded like a toad's croaking.

Possibly an escaped pet

This is the first time both Koh and Kamal have seen and heard of the violet turaco in Singapore.

Prior to this, it appears that there is no record of such a bird here.

The species is non-native, and hails from West Africa.

This has led photographers to speculate that the individual at Seletar could be an escaped pet.

Previously in 2021, another species of turaco was spotted, with the belief that it might have, similarly, been an escaped pet as well.

Nevertheless, Kamal holds the hope that the violet turaco will remain at Seletar — "Just like the lone African grey crowned crane which resides here for many years."

Ornamental birds

There are several requirements to importing ornamental pet birds into Singapore, including applying for an import licence and customs clearance permit.

If the bird is a Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) species, CITES export/re-export and import permits are also needed.

Some parrot species are highly endangered and listed under CITES Appendix I.

They are thus not eligible for commercial import, export, or re-export unless the bird has been bred in captivity in operations or farms that are either registered with CITES, or used for non-commercial purposes.

Top photo courtesy of Gordon Koh