(completed) |
m |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
| − | [[Image:Sickle-billed_Vanga.jpg|thumb|550px|right| | + | [[Image:Sickle-billed_Vanga.jpg|thumb|550px|right|Photo by {{user|balticbird|balticbird}}<br />Ifaty, [[Madagascar]]]] |
'''Alternative names: Sicklebill; Falcule''' | '''Alternative names: Sicklebill; Falcule''' | ||
;[[: Category:Falculea|Falculea]] palliata | ;[[: Category:Falculea|Falculea]] palliata | ||
Revision as of 10:43, 28 August 2010
Alternative names: Sicklebill; Falcule
- Falculea palliata
Identification
32cm. The largest vanga.
- Exceptionally long, strongly decurved bill
- White head, neck, chin, throat and underparts
- Black upperparts with blue sheen
- White rump
- Black upperwing and tail
- Sturdy, dark grey to pale blue legs
Sexes similar. Juveniles are similar to adults but the black back and the wing feathers are tipped with buff.
Distribution
Endemic to north, west and south Madagascar.
Common to fairly common in its range.
Taxonomy
A monotypic species.
Habitat
Dry forests and dry shrubland. Also in savanna and wooded area around settlements. Occurs from sea-level up to 900m.
Behaviour
Fees on invertebrates (like spiders, cockroaches, crickets, grasshoppers, beetles or worms) and small vertebrates (like geckos).
The long bill is used probing into holes and crevices in trunks of live and dead trees.
A gregarious species, especially outside breeding-season when seen in flocks of up to 30 or more birds. Often in mixed-species flocks with White-headed Vanga and Crested Drongo.
Breeding season from October to January. A polyandrous species, more than two males copulate with one female and all birds feed the young. The nest is a cup made of twigs. It's placed 9 - 16m above the ground in a tree fork. Lays 3 - 4 eggs.
A sedentary species.
References
- Clements, JF. 2009. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2009. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
- Del Hoyo, J, A Elliott, and D Christie, eds. 2009. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 14: Bush-shrikes to Old World Sparrows. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8496553507
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Sickle-billed Vanga. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 29 May 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Sickle-billed_Vanga
