The sickle-billed vanga (''Falculea palliata'') is a species of
bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...
in the
vanga
The family Vangidae (from ''vanga'', Malagasy for the hook-billed vanga, ''Vanga curvirostris'') comprises a group of often shrike-like medium-sized birds distributed from Asia to Africa, including the vangas of Madagascar to which the family o ...
family Vangidae. It is
monotypic
In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...
within the genus ''Falculea''. It is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
to
Madagascar
Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...
. Its natural
habitat
In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...
s are tropical dry
forest
A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...
s and tropical dry
shrubland
Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity. It m ...
.
Taxonomy
The sickle-billed vanga was described by
Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire
Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (16 December 1805 – 10 November 1861) was a French zoologist and an authority on deviation from normal structure. In 1854 he coined the term ''éthologie'' (ethology).
Biography
He was born in Paris, the son ...
in 1836, who also erected the genus ''Falculea'' to place it in. There are no subspecies. Like many members of the
vanga
The family Vangidae (from ''vanga'', Malagasy for the hook-billed vanga, ''Vanga curvirostris'') comprises a group of often shrike-like medium-sized birds distributed from Asia to Africa, including the vangas of Madagascar to which the family o ...
family it was previously placed in another family by early scientists. In the case of this species it was placed with the crows and jays in
Corvidae
Corvidae is a cosmopolitan family of oscine passerine birds that contains the crows, ravens, rooks, jackdaws, jays, magpies, treepies, choughs, and nutcrackers. In colloquial English, they are known as the crow family or corvids. Currently, 13 ...
by H. Gadow in the 1883 Catalogue of the British Museum.
Within the Vangidae it seems that the closest relatives are the
Bernier's vanga
Bernier's vanga (''Oriolia bernieri'') is a bird species in the family Vangidae. It is in the monotypic genus ''Oriolia''. It is endemic to Madagascar. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is threatened by habi ...
(''Oriolia bernieri''), the
white-headed vanga
The white-headed vanga (''Artamella viridis'') is a species of bird in the family Vangidae. It is monotypic within the genus ''Artamella''. It is endemic to Madagascar, where its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forest, subtropic ...
(''Artamella virdis'') and the three species in the genus ''
Xenopirostris
''Xenopirostris'' is a genus of birds in the family Vangidae. They are all endemic to Madagascar
Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République d ...
''. It is thought that the sickle-billed vanga split from the white-headed vanga around 1.1 million years ago. The two species share similar plumage but are very different in size and bill shape, reflecting the wide plasticity in body shape and feeding ecology in the vanga
radiation
In physics, radiation is the emission or transmission of energy in the form of waves or particles through space or through a material medium. This includes:
* ''electromagnetic radiation'', such as radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visi ...
. Both species, as well as their other close relatives, also share a unique intense black colouration in the mouth.
Description
The sickle-billed vanga is the largest of the vangas, measuring in length and weighing . The most striking feature is the
bill
Bill(s) may refer to:
Common meanings
* Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States)
* Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature
* Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer
* Bill, a bird or animal's beak
Plac ...
, which is strongly decurved and measures and is blue-grey fading to ivory at the tip. The
plumage
Plumage ( "feather") is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, ...
is striking, with a white head, breast and belly and the back, wings and tail being black with a blue sheen. The iris is brown and the orbital ring around the eye is black. The legs are strong and coloured dark grey to pale blue. There is no
sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most ani ...
. Juveniles are similar to adults but the black feathers on the back and wings are tipped with buff.
Distribution and habitat
![Andohahela NP](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Andohahela_NP.jpg)
The sickle-billed vanga is endemic to Madagascar, where it is found throughout the western side of the island. It ranges from sea-level up to . It is found in
dry deciduous forest
The tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest is a habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature and is located at tropical and subtropical latitudes. Though these forests occur in climates that are warm year-round, and may receive ...
as well as
thorn-forest. It can also be found in open savanna and in wooded areas around villages. The species is non-migratory.
The species is common within its range and is protected by a number of national parks, including
Andohahela National Park
Andohahela National Park, in south-east Madagascar, is remarkable for the extremes of habitats that are represented within it. The park covers of the Anosy mountain range, the southernmost spur of the Malagasy Highlands and contains the last hum ...
,
Ankarafantsika National Park
Ankarafantsika National Park is a national park near Andranofasika in the Boeny Region of Madagascar. The closest city is Majunga north of the park. Ankarafantsika is mostly tropical in climate type. The Sakalava people are the predominant ethnic ...
, and
Berenty Reserve
Berenty Reserve is a small private reserve of gallery forest along the Mandrare River, set in the semi-arid spiny forest ecoregion of the far south of Madagascar. For more than three decades the late primatologist Alison Jolly (who started the res ...
. As such it is evaluated as
Least Concern
A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...
by the
IUCN
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...
.
Behaviour
Diet and feeding
The sickle-billed vanga is a social species, particularly in the tiding flea season when it can travel in groups of up to thirty birds while foraging for food and form roosting groups of over fifty birds. These flocks become smaller during the breeding season, but retain a small group of non-breeders that forage together over a wide area. They will form
mixed-species foraging flock
A mixed-species feeding flock, also termed a mixed-species foraging flock, mixed hunting party or informally bird wave, is a flock of usually insectivorous birds of different species that join each other and move together while foraging. These ar ...
s with the related
white-headed vanga
The white-headed vanga (''Artamella viridis'') is a species of bird in the family Vangidae. It is monotypic within the genus ''Artamella''. It is endemic to Madagascar, where its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forest, subtropic ...
and the
crested drongo
The crested drongo (''Dicrurus forficatus'') is a passerine bird in the family Dicruridae. It is black with a bluish-green sheen, a distinctive crest on the forehead and a forked tail. There are two subspecies; ''D. f. forficatus'' is endemic t ...
. The species feeds on a wide range of terrestrial invertebrates, including spiders, cockroaches, crickets, beetles, and worms. Small vertebrates, including
chameleon
Chameleons or chamaeleons (family Chamaeleonidae) are a distinctive and highly specialized clade of Old World lizards with 202 species described as of June 2015. The members of this family are best known for their distinct range of colors, bein ...
s and
gecko
Geckos are small, mostly carnivorous lizards that have a wide distribution, found on every continent except Antarctica. Belonging to the infraorder Gekkota, geckos are found in warm climates throughout the world. They range from .
Geckos ar ...
s, are also part of the diet and are also fed to nestlings. They generally feed in trees and particularly favour large branches, and will probe their long bill deep into holes and use it to lever off bark to get at concealed prey, occupying part of the niche usually filled by
woodpecker
Woodpeckers are part of the bird family Picidae, which also includes the piculets, wrynecks, and sapsuckers. Members of this family are found worldwide, except for Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Madagascar, and the extreme polar regions. ...
s, which are absent from Madagascar (they do not fully fill the niche as they do not hammer the wood for prey).
Breeding
The sickle-billed vanga is apparently a seasonal breeder, with the season running from October to January in
Ankarafantsika National Park
Ankarafantsika National Park is a national park near Andranofasika in the Boeny Region of Madagascar. The closest city is Majunga north of the park. Ankarafantsika is mostly tropical in climate type. The Sakalava people are the predominant ethnic ...
in the north western part of the island. This coincides with the end of the dry season. The species is one of the vangas that has a
polyandrous
Polyandry (; ) is a form of polygamy in which a woman takes two or more husbands at the same time. Polyandry is contrasted with polygyny, involving one male and two or more females. If a marriage involves a plural number of "husbands and wives" ...
breeding system, where one female will mate with two or more males and all are responsible for raising the young. It is the female that engages in courtship displays, approaching the male and quivering her wings while holding the body in a horizontal posture. The male does not perform any display in return. Sickle-billed vangas are
territorial
A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal.
In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or a ...
and the males in the group will defend the territory from rivals and from potential or actual predators.
The
nest
A nest is a structure built for certain animals to hold eggs or young. Although nests are most closely associated with birds, members of all classes of vertebrates and some invertebrates construct nests. They may be composed of organic materia ...
is atypical for the family, consisting of a large untidy bowl of twigs, in diameter, situated off the ground in the fork of a tree. The inner structure is lined with more delicate material. It is constructed by both sexes, but more work is done by the female. The clutch consists of three or four
eggs
Humans and human ancestors have scavenged and eaten animal eggs for millions of years. Humans in Southeast Asia had domesticated chickens and harvested their eggs for food by 1,500 BCE. The most widely consumed eggs are those of fowl, especial ...
, which are creamy white with mottling (particularly towards the larger end of the egg). Both sexes
incubate the eggs, and feed and brood the chicks, but as with nest construction the female does more of the work than the males. The incubation period is 16 to 18 days, and chicks
fledge
Fledging is the stage in a flying animal's life between hatching or birth and becoming capable of flight.
This term is most frequently applied to birds, but is also used for bats. For altricial birds, those that spend more time in vulnerable c ...
after 19 to 23 days.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1193043
sickle-billed vanga
The sickle-billed vanga (''Falculea palliata'') is a species of bird in the vanga family Vangidae. It is monotypic within the genus ''Falculea''. It is endemic to Madagascar. Its natural habitats are tropical dry forests and tropical dry sh ...
Endemic birds of Madagascar
sickle-billed vanga
The sickle-billed vanga (''Falculea palliata'') is a species of bird in the vanga family Vangidae. It is monotypic within the genus ''Falculea''. It is endemic to Madagascar. Its natural habitats are tropical dry forests and tropical dry sh ...
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot