---
title: "Western Plantain-eater"
description: "Crinifer piscator — Birds. 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."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/western-plantain-eater
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Western Plantain-eater

> Crinifer piscator — Birds. 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.

- Scientific name: *Crinifer piscator*
- Category: `birds` (Birds)
- Habitats: `forest` (Forest), `savanna` (Savanna)
- iNaturalist observations: 1757
- Wikidata: [Q1061026](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1061026)
- iNaturalist taxon: [7248](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/7248)

## Names

- en: Western Plantain-eater
- de: Schwarzschwanzlärmvogel
- es: Turaco Gris Occidental
- fr: Touraco gris
- nl: Grijze bananeneter
- pt: Pavão-cinzento
- pl: Hałaśnik kreskowany

## Countries with the most observations

BJ (540), GM (427), GH (178), NG (144), SN (115), CI (45), BF (44), NE (29), GN (28), TG (22), GW (20), ML (19)

## Summary

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…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_plantain-eater

## Photo

![Western Plantain-eater](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/western-plantain-eater/medium.jpg)

Photo: Isaac Caswell · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/38267819

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/western-plantain-eater?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).