White-throated Oxylabes
Oxylabes madagascariensis
Mid-sized tetraka with a bold white throat and eye-stripe. Brown on the back, rufous on the underparts, and bright rufous on the cap. Madagascar endemic that is found in low- and middle-elevation eastern and northern rainforest. Skulking but restless understory bird that prefers dense tangles. Sometimes joins mixed flocks. Common vocalizations are a quick, thrush-like up-and-down series, and a low, accelerating rattle.
Identification
The white-throated oxylabes is a large warbler 17–18 cm (6.7–7.1 in) in length. It has short wings, long legs and a long stout bill. The upperparts are dark olive-brown with a rufous top and side of head. It has a narrow white supercilium and a white chin and throat. The underparts are dark brown. The sexes are alike.
Taxonomy
In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description and an illustration of the white-throated oxylabes in the third volume of his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected on the island of Madagascar. He used the French name Le rossignol de Madagascar and the Latin name Luscinia madagascariensis. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. When in 1789 the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin revised and expanded Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae he included the white-throated oxylabes based on Brisson's description. He placed it with the wagtails in the genus Motacilla and coined the binomial name Motacilla madagascariensis. The white-throated oxylabes is now the only species placed in the genus Oxylabes that was introduced in 1870 by the English ornithologist Richard Bowdler Sharpe. The genus name is from Ancient Greek oxulabēs meaning "quick at seizing". The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.<p>In 2013, genetic studies determined that the Bluntschli's vanga (also known as short-toed nuthatch-vanga), a species described in 1996 from two specimens collected in 1931, was actually this species. The specimens were both juveniles in a poorly known brown plumage.
- Scientific name
- Oxylabes madagascariensis
- Authority
- (Gmelin, JF, 1789)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Bernieridae
- Genus
- Oxylabes
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds

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Strikingly pretty small finch. Males are largely red and covered in white spots with dark wings and tail. Females are gray with a rufous rump. Both sexes have a red beak. Gives a very musical song a high "teei" call. Found in grassy areas close to water and often near human habitation, particularly areas with wet rice paddies.

Sooty-capped Babbler
Malacopteron affine
Bland, unremarkable-looking medium-sized babbler of open forest, forest edges, clearings, brushy riparian, and overgrown margins of cultivation in lowland and foothill areas. Extremely generic-looking, with no bright colors, a medium-length tail, and an average bill. Evenly-proportioned body gives it a rather bulbul-like outline. Note unmarked gray face, dark gray crown, dark rufous tail, and faint brownish wash on the chest. Especially similar to Moustached Babbler, but note present species’ darker crown, plain face (no moustache), and more slender bill. Scaly-crowned is also similar, but has a bright rufous patch on the forecrown. Plainly-colored Pellorneum babblers can be confusing, but note differences in proportions and profile. Most frequently-heard song is a beautiful but eerily human-like rising series of even whistles; when duetting, one bird often gives explosive “wik!” calls in response. Also gives a quicker, more cheery, and less human-like version of the song, as well as a short melancholy up-and-down series of whistles.

Vegetarian Finch
Platyspiza crassirostris
A large and rather parrot-billed Galápagos finch. Bill is about as long as it is deep, with a very round upper edge and slightly curved lower edge. Male has a black hood and bill, a sooty back, and a yellowish belly with dark streaks. Female is tan with a pale bill, a whitish or yellowish belly, and brown streaks on the underparts. Very similar to Large Tree-Finch, which is smaller and smaller-billed. Most likely to be encountered in forest at middle elevations on the larger islands. Not present on the islands of Española, Genovesa, and Santa Fé.
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